My Older Siblings Cannot be the Dragonborn (Skyrim SI)

[shadenight123]

Prologue

My teeth were chattering. I was thumping my feet against what felt like wood in an effort to shake my legs and keep them awake. This was worthy of hypothermia. Since when did my room turn into a frigging fridge? Did someone douse me in cold water? Was that it? Was the sound of creaking wood beneath my feet due to the wooden floor? Wait, why were my wrists bound?

I swear to God, if this is one of your pranks, brother—

My eyes snapped open to a burly looking man wearing strange dark blue clothes. A sort of leather armor was loosely strapped beneath a thick-looking cloak of sorts. His hair was dark, and in tresses. He had a goatee that was slightly darker in color, and a black tattoo on his face that seemed to dance, but it could have been the shadows of the trees playing tricks on my sight. The very large trees that seemed to make the cold even more unsettling and chilling.

I snapped my head to the side, wincing in pain as my neck felt as if it had gone through a wringer of sorts.

"Don't move too quickly," a voice murmured by my side, belonging to a tall and burly built man with striking blue eyes and light blond hair. He looked every bit the typical example of Nordic strength. He also wasn't suffering from the cold as much as I did, which was kind of obvious. "Hits to the head are pretty bad."

"It hasn't swelled," a new voice joined the one to my right, though this one came from my left, and was definitely female. I blinked at her slightly pointed ears and shoulder length red hair, her sky-clear eyes showing concern as she thinned her lips in displeasure. "I told you it was a stupid idea, Dragnor. We shouldn't have followed the wind."

"Mother used to say to follow our hearts," the now dubbed Dragnor spoke. "How was I supposed to know this would happen?"

"This must be due to Sheor's influences," the Breton woman whispered.

"Not everything is due to a God's will, Rae," Dragnor said. "Bad luck is bad luck."

I looked at the thick canopy of trees over my head. My shoulders slumped as I let the cold gingerly caress and freeze my skin as my teeth kept on chattering incessantly. This couldn't be happening. This couldn't be real.

And if it was, then the blame was squarely on the cheese lover.

"You haven't said a word in five minutes, brother," Dragnor said. "You do remember how to talk, don't you?"

I blinked and then belatedly realized that the Nord was talking to me. The Nord from Skyrim was talking to me. I stared at him. I stared at him and then blinked once, furrowing my brows. "Do I...know you?"

Dragnor thoughtfully neared his face, scrunched his nose up a bit, and then slammed his forehead against mine. The impact made for a rude awakening. The pain I felt was pretty much real, as was the thrumming in the front of my head as my back was cushioned by the woman by my side. I hissed and groaned in pain as I felt my brain jostle about inside my skull.

"Dragnor!" the woman whose name was Rae exclaimed, "Why did you do that!?"

"Keep calm back there!" the Imperial soldier driving the carriage bellowed, turning his head sharply. "You traitors better not try anything funny, or you'll get what's coming to you sooner rather than later!"

His form blurred slightly due to the blow I had received, but then snapped back into position as I was gently brought to sit back up straight by a gentle, but firm push of the pointy-eared woman. "If you've got memory problems because they whack your head, another whacking is supposed to fix it," Dragnor said in a hushed whisper. "Everyone knows that!"

"That's not how it works!" Rae hissed. "You're just worsening things!"

I stared at the man in front of me. The Stormcloak rebel giving a sympathetic look back, mixed with a small fond smile.

"Better than doing nothing!"

"I said to be quiet!" the Imperial soldier turned once more, his face morphed in a scowl of anger. Behind our backs, a mounted soldier rode his horse near the carriage and unsheathed his sword, tapping the flat of the blade against Dragnor's head.

"Don't make me use this," the soldier warned hotly. After that, both took the warning to heart and shut up at the same time.

The mounted soldier trotted back to his post by the side of the carriage, leaving us once more alone with our thoughts. Well, I was alone with my thoughts for a grand total of five seconds, the time it took until the Nord used his fingers to pull on my ragged clothes and catch my attention.

"I'm Dragnor," he said in a whisper. "And whatever happens, just follow my lead and I'll protect you, little brother."

I blinked.

Another bunch of fingers grabbed hold of the other side of my ragged clothes, and as I turned with surprise already coloring my face, the shoulder-length red-haired woman spoke in turn.

"I'm Rae," she said, "I'm your big sister, and I'll make everything work out in the end."

I blinked again.

Considering how both a Nord and a Breton had said we were siblings, I stared at the Stormcloak rebel in front of me, half-expecting him to reveal his relative affiliation to the likes of me. He didn't, but he too shared my disbelief at their words. I didn't even know the Nord in front of me, or what his name was, but I decided he was a kindred soul. One who, when taking in the wonders and the horrors of the world, simply decided to live with it.

There was only one thing I could do.

I had to keep quiet, and prepare my nervous beating heart for the task of the century. I would have to run through a crumbling tower to jump out a hole in the roof in order to land in a burning tavern to make my escape from the fire-breathing dragon that would soon attack Helgen.

There was no way in hell I would be capable of doing that jump.

Of course, this would all be moot if the freezing winds took my life before Alduin did.

What a wonderful way to start the New Year.

Author's Notes: I wanted to write another fluffy fic, and so here we are. :3 Blame the muse. This is going to be so, so funny~

 

[shadenight123]

Helgen - 17th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra

The cold did not kill me. It came close, but it didn't. I ended up huddled in the middle between the burly Nord and the red-haired Breton, and as the Breton and I shuddered, the Nord instead simply grinned. He was like a miniature stove. Honestly, there were some men whose body temperature reached astonishing degrees, and Dragnor was one of said men. The carriages carrying us began to trek through cobbled roads barely serviceable, and as the horse pulling our carriage neighed and snorted, it still resolutely carried us through.

Good horse, not willing to just rest and determined to carry us prisoners to our chopping block. He was probably a thoroughly bred horse of the Empire, whose firmness in pulling was second only to his courage on the battlefield. Yes, indeed, that horse was nothing less than a hero carrying aloft the flame of the Emperor, and on his broad shoulders stood the weight of the law. If only I hadn't been part of the carriage of punished criminals, I would have appreciated the horse a bit more.

"We've nearly arrived," I heard Rae speak, her head resting against my stomach as she had laid down and crawled into a fetal position on both Dragnor and mine's legs. The guards hadn't said anything, perhaps deciding that it made it even harder to try to escape if one of the criminals was actually holding down the other two.

"Finally," Dragnor grumbled. "Care to get off my legs now, sister?"

Rae dutifully pushed herself up, cracking her fingers lightly even as she took a few deep breaths. She sat back down, this time by Dragnor's side who grunted as he moved to let her sit. I moved too, ending up the one furthest at the back of the carriage.

"What village is that?" Rae asked.

"Helgen," one of the Stormcloak rebels in front of us spoke. "It's an Imperial outpost."

"We've made it past the border," Rae said, "but not in the way I had planned it."

"You'll be insufferable for days, won't you?" Dragnor growled. "Try to get us out of this trouble before starting another."

Rae flicked her hair behind her with a sharp motion of her head as the carriages pulled inside the village, my eyes glancing over to where General Tullius was speaking with the Thalmor Ambassador. Or at least, to where I had expected them both to be. Only, they weren't really there. Helgen was a small village, but differently from the game it actually had more than just a handful of houses. It was an important Imperial outpost that had the border with Cyrodiil to the South.

Trade passed through there, and while the people gathered by the sides of the carriage were few, there were still quite a few more than expected.

The carriages came to a halt, and as the imperial soldiers escorting us made us descend, we ended up amidst the rows of Stormcloak rebels ready for the chopping block. Well, not really. We stood in line as Hadvar went through the list, calling forth the prisoners one after the other. It was justified. Rather than two dozens, we were at least a good fifty or more. Apparently someone had decided along the way to gather more rebellious Stormcloaks and throw them with other carriages to the mix.

There was a grand total of ten carriages, all slowly moving away from the main chopping block in front of the large tower that oversaw the outpost in its entirety. Ulfric Stormcloak went first, manhandled roughly by two imperial soldiers clad in heavy armor, while General Tullius overlooked the entirety of the proceedings from atop his horse at one end of the square. Ralof went next with his own escort. When Lokir of Rorikstead panicked, he dashed off as expected, perhaps hoping to lose himself in the crowd that was gathering at the borders of the square. In that moment, I could feel the tense grip of Dragnor on my right arm, as if holding me steady.

What? Was he expecting me to rush after him or something? "He's a fool," Dragnor whispered.

He managed to clear my line of sight before the archers gathered to hold back the crowd pulled the strings of their bows and unleashed their arrows, the sharp cry of pain from Lokir letting me know that at least one or two had struck true. "Anyone else feels like running!?"

Nobody answered her. Hadvar looked down at the list once more, and then back up towards us. "You there, wait. Who are you?" he asked, a puzzled expression on his face.

"I am Rae of Cyrodiil, and these are my brothers, Dragnor and Umbra." I blinked at the second name. Umbra? Was that my name? Why was it my name? At least let me pick it. I can be Reaper, or Hatred. Why do I have to be Umbra? It sounds female. Is it a female name? Does it still mean Shade? Or does it mean Shadow? Even so, why are you telling the guy that we're siblings? I'm clearly what passes for an Imperial. An Imperial, a Nord and a Breton walk to the chopping block sounds like the start of a joke, if only it weren't such a serious situation. "There's been a mistake. We aren't Stormcloaks! We were just trying to cross the border!"

"Captain, what should we do? They aren't on the list," Hadvar said.

"Forget the list, they go to the block," the captain replied. The low murmurs from the crowd were apparently of distaste. They wanted to see blood, probably soon, and anything postponing it wasn't going to postpone it for much longer.

I swallowed. I was not going to jump out of a broken tower and land inside a burning tavern if I could avoid it, and if I considered just how the terrain had changed, I might not even get to do that. "Is Gaius Maro still serving at Dragon bridge?" I asked, "He can vouch for us."

The Captain was about to turn away, when Hadvar interceded, "Commander Maro's son?"

I nodded. "Yeah, him. He's in the Penitus Oculatus. If you do not trust us," I looked at the Captain straight in the eyes, the woman having turned now that I had mentioned the personal guards of the Emperor. "It is fine. We can wait in the prison cells until you send a messenger over. We're no Ulfric Stormcloak," I inclined my head to where the leader of the Stormcloaks actually was. His mouth firmly closed by a piece of cloth tightly rolled and chewed at by his teeth. "And if we're lying then you can simply forget the key or have us killed at a later date. We won't try to run, but if we aren't lying, and you go ahead with chopping our heads off...you'll be explaining it to him when he next takes leave expecting to see us at Solitude and not finding us there."

The captain this time did hesitate. She probably wasn't willing to waste more time than what was strictly necessary, especially with how the execution had to be carried over with quickly, but she couldn't risk her career, if she had any, and honestly, we clearly weren't Stormcloaks. At least, myself and Rae weren't Nord, but I had vouched also for Dragnor. In the end, she could wait a couple of days before killing the likes of us. "Throw them in the prisons," she said in the end. "If they try to escape, cut off their legs and have them burned alive."

I stared at the woman. Seriously? Couldn't a plain kill them work just as well?

Neither of my siblings said anything as Hadvar neared us with his sword unsheathed. "Follow me," he said as he turned after roughly grabbing hold of my arm and dragging me forward, Dragnor and Rae following behind us. Why did he have to drag me ahead of the others wasn't something I understood, but as we passed by the chopping block two Imperial soldiers separated to follow behind us, and once we reached into the square behind the main tower, I heard the first roar echo across the mountains.

"Did you hear that?" Dragnor asked, looking up to the sky for answers. We were near the still open gates that would lead one out of Helgen. Still, Hadvar didn't waste time in pulling me past the second square behind the chopping block.

"Keep moving," Hadvar said. "Don't give me a reason to waste the captain's mercy."

"Yeah, let's go," I said, "Before he rips my arm off and drags it in prison without the rest of my body," I continued as I sped up my gait, the duo of tied up siblings of mine following.

"Has your memory returned, brother?" Rae asked, only for me to shake my head even while being brought to a halt in front of a large wooden door, which was hastily opened with a powerful push of Hadvar's shoulder.

"Not all of it," I said. "I was hit pretty nastily on the back of my head by one of yours," I continued as Hadvar looked back at me. "I would have cleared the misunderstanding immediately, had I been awake when we were captured," I sighed. "Did they trash our stuff?"

"No idea," Dragnor said. "It's probably still back there at the Crossing."

We passed through the stone corridors and stairs of Helgen Keep, a sudden shake making me nearly lose my balance as Hadvar jolted to an abrupt halt.

"What's happening?" he turned around to look at the two other Imperials, while a few more began to rush up the stairs, attracted by the noise and the sudden screams.

One of them neared a slit in the walls at the top of the stairs, "Can't see a thing through this!" he yelled back.

Hadvar hesitated, and then pushed me against the wall by the side of the stairs. "Stay there!" he pointed his sword at Rae and Dragnor, "Next to the wall prisoners!" and as the duo obeyed, he then rushed back at the top of the stairs, leaving behind the two lightly-armored guards to watch over us.

A few seconds that stretched like minutes passed as suddenly the ground trembled more, this time with the rhythmic pounding of meteors hitting down from the skies and setting ablaze pretty much everything they struck.

The guards lost momentarily their balance, and that was all Dragnor needed to rush forward and slam both of his fists against the knee of the guard in front of him, while Rae's hands joined together to release a stream of hot fire straight against the second guard's face.

The guard who had received a blast of fire to the face did not scream. The flames hungrily devoured his breath and the oxygen he so desperately needed as his entire head lit ablaze, his body shaking as it fell down the stairs with a thud.

The one Dragnor was working on instead found his face hitting the stone steps repeatedly, the Nord's hands smashing the man's head against the stone until it became unrecognizable, stopping only once Rae barked out his name.

"We don't have time for this Dragnor!" Rae hissed. "Get his sword, quickly!"

Fumbling with both hands, Dragnor did just that and freed Rae first with a quick grunt of exertion, before passing the sword over so that she could free us both in turn.

My fingers twitched as I gasped for air, my eyes settling on the nice cold wall in front of me and not on the corpse on the stairs or the one at the bottom of said stairs.

"So little brother, you haven't lost your tongue!" Dragnor said with a bright smile, even as he hastily began to unclasp bracers of the soldier, Rae kneeling by his side to help him. "I told you hitting him on the head was going to work."

"Shut up Dragnor," Rae hissed back. "Umbra, get the man's boots, quickly!"

I blinked, swallowed and then knelt. If I tried my hardest not to look at the man's upper part of the body, then it was no different than working with a mannequin. It was a really life-like mannequin, but just that, a mannequin.

I would have preferred pushing the E button to get the loot with a swift R pressure, but I had to take what I was given. This meant undoing removing boots and smelling stinky feet belonging to a dead and cold corpse.

Swallow, Shade. Swallow your fears and your disgust and don't think about the other body, or about the Helgen Keep that you'll have to push through.

"Just put it on as quickly as possible," Rae snapped as she rushed down towards the other corpse, my body repulsed by the thought, and yet moving by sheer automation. It was a perfectly valid thought. Get the armor. Don't think about the corpses.

Get the armor.

Don't think.

 

[shadenight123]

Helgen - 17th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra

Rae didn't wear the armor. She thrust it in my arms, and as Dragnor reached for us, he swiftly helped me put it on. I felt the leather creak, and the smell of burnt flesh, but as I swallowed the sensation, and took deep breaths to steady myself, I grabbed the sword. "We can do this," I said as I sheathed the sword again. The ground trembled again, loose bits and pieces of rock falling over our heads.

"We should get out and find our way to the gates," Dragnor said, "It will be quicker to run through the chaos. The Stormcloaks are attacking, but they won't last."

I stared at the man, and then shook my head. "No, we can't go back up. The Imperials won't be fooled with Rae by our side, and the Stormcloak won't care since we're wearing Imperial armor," I jabbed my finger in front of us, towards the large hallway littered with torches set upon the walls. "There should be another exit. Let's take that."

"Fine by me little brother," Dragnor laughed, "Then you lead on!" he swung his sword in front of him, "I always told you to train the sword arm, and I guess that today is the day I see you actually use it."

I shook my head, "I'd rather not," I said as I began to jog along the loose stone pavement, trying my hardest to keep my balance because the rocks weren't an even surface. The hallway was littered with loose rocks, the archway clearly resisting only thanks to the greatness that was Imperial masonry. I shrugged the odd feeling off, my eyes casting wary glances to Rae, who looked sickeningly green.

"I'm all right," she said in a whisper, realizing I had been glancing at her. "We can talk more later."

I nodded as Dragnor suddenly took point before me in turning the corner, his blade coming up to thrust and nimbly parry an incoming downward swing. Within seconds, he had rushed through the enemy's open-armed stance and slammed the pommel of the blade against the soldier's face, shattering his nose before driving the tip of the sword through the neck. He pushed the blade free, blood dirtying the sword, and then swiftly brought up his guard as he let a second swing from a second foe slide down by his side harmlessly.

"Come take me, Stormcloaks!" he bellowed in anger, the men that were currently doing their utmost to attack us now down one number, which reduced them to two.

"Umbra, get down!" Rae yelled as heat seemed to form a path near my head. I ducked down just in time to watch a Stormcloak aim for the spot I had been a second before with his large battleaxe, and instead get hit by a stream of fire. The man screamed as he clutched on to his face and let go of the large weapon, which clanked on the ground with a hearty thud. I swallowed and pushed myself back up as fast as possible, before slamming with my bare hands against the burning's man chest to push him away.

He fell on his back, clutching his face and screaming until Dragnor delivered a thrust straight through his armor, stabbing his heart and ending his pain in a second. He had already dealt with the second enemy, and thus quickly ended the life of the third.

"I can't do this," I muttered as I clutched my mouth with my hands, tears in my eyes.

Rae by my side decided to hurl up against the side of the wall.

"Think of it as hunting deer," Dragnor said with a huff, slowly bending to check through the guards' pockets. "That's why I told you to get tougher by hunting, or skinning animals. Did you listen to big brother Dragnor? No, no you didn't. And here we are at Barf-Village, next stop Puke-Hold," he grimaced. "Give me that," he said as he gestured for my sword, which I all too eagerly passed over with trembling hands.

"I'm sorry," I croaked.

"Just messing with you little brother," Dragnor said as he quickly unsheathed the second blade, holding one for each hand. "That's what big brothers are for. Carrying the slack of the younger ones."

I snorted and then gestured for the end of the passage, where a large wooden door had been left open. The corpses of the Imperial soldiers mixed with those of the Stormcloaks, the defenses having been stormed and taken, but not without losses for the attackers.

The kitchens of the keep were a veritable mess of broken, twisted bodies and blood. The broth that bubbled by the fire in the corner had a dark and grimy look, an Imperial head resting inside of it much to my disgust and my quiet questioning on why I had to go looking for that. The rest of the kitchens that doubled as a storage unit were empty of enemies, perhaps the very same we had faced outside the door. Why couldn't they stick to predetermined paths?

Rae proceeded to pluck the garlic gloves from the kitchen, and gathering the rest of the ingredients that were still usable. She grabbed a large sack, and slung it over her shoulder after filling it with what she had found, tying it around her chest to free her hands. Meanwhile, I quickly grabbed a shield from one of the fallen soldiers. It was heavy, and it made me wish I didn't have to carry it, but if push came to shove, I could always use it as a mobile wall to hide behind.

"What are you doing?" Dragnor asked in a hushed voice, his back against the wall as he looked past the first room and into the second, where fewer corpses stood, most of them belonging to half-dressed Imperial soldiers that had been attacked while enjoying their leisure time, and had tried to run only to get stabbed through in the back. "It's not the time for one of your culinary experiments!"

"What are we going to eat once we're out of here, rocks?" Rae hissed back as she hopped to grab a couple of rabbits hanging from metal spikes nailed to the wall. "And what about drinking?" she grabbed a couple of cups and a jug, "or cooking?"

"We can think about that later," Dragnor hissed. "We don't need a frying pan sister! We can use sticks and stab the game over a fire!"

Rae's nose scrunched up. "That is not cooking!"

"Keep bickering and we're going to die when the keep falls over our heads," I said awkwardly, "Please...let's just get out of here."


Rae actually grabbed a couple of candles, and after blowing them out moved near the fire one last time, gathering a couple of small stones and wooden sticks before quickly joining Dragnor as he reached for the door. He slammed his right foot against it, making it snap open quickly and just as quickly close back on our faces as it bounced back with a startled yelp. Rather than push against the door, he brought his entire back against the door and thrust his blades towards the other side, crossing them both together to intercept a thrust from the left.

Rae's fingers birthed the usual flame, which actually elicited a yelp as the attacker on the left backed away from the door, allowing her to pass through. My legs trembled as I did the same, passing through the doorway only to find an ambush turned against the men beyond.

"You know little brother, you should be happy we aren't counting kills," Dragnor said nonchalantly, one of his swords hilt deep into a Stormcloak's stomach. He gripped hold of the ax the soldier was carrying and spun, throwing it against the one rebel Rae was holding at bay through the use of random gusts of fire. The ax struck firmly against the Stormcloak's chest, and as the Nord fell backwards down the stairs, I couldn't help but be thankful that Dragnor was on our side.

"Have you been doing this before?" I asked.

"What? Of course I...oh, the memories aren't back yet?" Dragnor grumbled, "I've been fighting in the Arena for years. How can you forget that?" he sighed loudly. "Maybe I should hit you harder next time."

"I'd rather you didn't give him a concussion," Rae said, passing a hand to wipe her mouth, before spitting to the side. "Let's keep moving. This stairs better not lead into a dead end."

"They don't," I said as I began to walk down, "The Stormcloaks must have come from somewhere."

I didn't make it very far.

By the time we reached the bottom of the stairs, I was barely dragging it through sheer force of will, and even that was starting to come less. With a quick and swift motion, Dragnor grabbed hold of my shield and placed himself once more in front of us.

"Let the fighter fight I say," he sighed. "You've been brave enough for the day, Umbra. Let me take care of the rest."

Rae began to walk by my side as we headed right into the room that would have held the torturer and his goon, if they hadn't been skewered and quartered into bits and pieces on a nearby torture device, the Stormcloak having passed by here and not having stopped longer than necessary. There definitely were more doors and hallways than I remembered, perhaps due to whatever form of reality check that needed to be done in order to render something...like a game into something...real.

"That's a mage robe," Rae said as she pointed at one of the cages, where the corpse of a man stood in a bent and broken position, "I could use some clothes that are actually clothes," she continued, gesturing at her rags. "Can you open the lock?"

"Sure," Dragnor grabbed a nearby battleaxe, lodged firmly in the wall, and then slammed it against the lock denting the thick iron, before repeating the motion a couple of times until it shattered, swinging the cell door open for Rae to step inside.

"Such grace, Dragnor," I said as I saw a backpack snug enough to fit on my back. It wasn't anything grand, but it would serve its purpose. I headed behind the counter, hoping to find the shield and the mace that would be a nice step in a direction that didn't lead to my untimely demise. I didn't find them there. The shield had been dug deep into the lower midriff of an Imperial, and the mace had smashed the head of a Stormcloak before the wielder had died getting stabbed a few dozen times.

Death here really was at the order of the day.

"It's not like I can say tgm and get myself into god mode now, can I?" I whispered as I closed my eyes while I began to tug, trying to pull the shield free from the wall. This one was supposed to be lighter, and easier to wield. It finally broke free as the body fell down with a sick thud, letting me gasp in relief as I hastily proceeded to clasp it around my arm, this one coming with a nice set of leather straps meant to make it easier to carry.

The mace was simply the best tool for the uneducated and the untrained. Also, it was the only weapon that I still remembered the book about. Lift mace, bring it down, keep wrist soft and move arm like a whip.

I could do that.

I totally could do that.

No, I totally couldn't, but I didn't have to think about how I was screwed.

I had to think positive.

It wasn't like things could get worse now, could they?

 

[shadenight123]

Helgen - 17th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra

Why must men and women fight? Because they believe in what they're fighting for, and even if they don't, if their family fights, then they too must join the battle. The hardest battles are those where brother fights brother, sister fights sister, and the civil war of Skyrim was one such thing. The prison cells were empty, the prisoners either saved, or killed before they could as much as get a word in.

At the opposite end of a large hall, past a tight corner carved in the room at the end of the corridor, there was a big hole, big enough to easily allow access to four to five Stormcloaks at the same time. And it was doing just that. Metallic cages hung from the walls and the ceiling, Dragnor pushed us back behind the corner, taking deep breaths as he swiftly grabbed hold of his shield.

"There's four of them," he whispered. "That's a lot. I need you to keep them off my back, Rae."

Rae swallowed, and nodded. "Take the chance to slip past them," she whispered towards me, a hand touching my cheek. "If we don't make it, you go ahead."

"There are more of them further ahead," I whispered back, "We either all make it, or we don't."

Rae's lips twitched in a small smile. "Then do your best."

I looked at Dragnor, who was beaming a smile in my direction. "Spoken like a true man," he said with a knowing nod. He clutched on his sword tighter. "Sovngarde beckons."

"The Nine protect us," I whispered back. I could use with some divine intervention. The gods were definitely a thing here, so they could help the likes of me, couldn't they? No? Just a tiny sign that someone was listening wouldn't be bad. Like a lightning bolt to strike down the four, a lucky chance to let us slip by unnoticed, or something like that. "I'll take one, Dragnor takes two and Rae deals with one before helping off Dragnor."

Dragnor blinked at the proffered plan, and then ruffled my hair. "I'll take three. You and Rae deal with just one. Once you're done, hit the others and fend them off me."

"But-" I stumbled on my next words as Dragnor shook his head, planting his hand to cover my mouth.

"You've got the silver tongue, brother, but I've got the sword arm. Let me battle."

I grimaced, but sourly gave him a curt nod. Fighting more than one opponent was carnage, especially in reality. Fighting two was hard, but three? Three was really not something that could be done. It took an instant for two to hold you off while the third circled around you. Dragnor seemed sure of himself, but while I didn't doubt his determination, I did doubt that he'd manage for more than a minute to hold three opponents off.

Dragnor stood up from his crouched position behind the corner and then cracked his neck slightly to the right and the left before rushing forth, bellowing a mighty roar of battle that made my own heart jump.

My legs followed him, though mostly I held the shield in front of me as I came face to face with the four Stormcloaks, who hadn't expected to get counter-charged the moment they stepped through the hole. Though mine was a shield, and I had forgotten to unclasp my mace from my side, it was to be enough. I simply had to distract one of them, right? Rae would give him the finishing touch.

Dragnor jumped forward, stabbing his blade into the neck of a Stormcloak before they even had the chance to understand what was going on. Well, done that way, he would be fighting two enemies rather than one. I hit with my shield the ax-wielding enemy, impacting against him and pushing as hard as I could. The ground was slippery, and the enemy was stronger than me by a long, long shot. He brought his shoulder to hold back my shield, and then began to swing his ax blindly over it, trying to hit me in the neck.

Thankfully, axes were meant to be blunt instruments of bone breaking, with just a tiny bit of sharpness to go with it. The attacks bounced off the leather, cracking it as I felt the sores and the bruises form as I gasped from pain. "Any moment now, Rae!" I yelled as I abruptly lowered my head, feeling hot blood soak the side of my face. It burned a second later. Had he hit me? Had I lost an ear? No, I wasn't feeling pain. Perhaps I would once it was over, but right now I was still functioning. My ears were there.

"Get down!" Rae exclaimed, and as I abruptly lowered myself, shield included, the Stormcloak found himself vaulting over me, just in time to hit a sizzling wave of electricity in the face, which made the man scream and curse as his veins burned inside his skin.

"W-Witch!" the Stormcloak yelled as he mastered his pain to rush towards Rae, whose concentration didn't slip one bit. I jumped from my crouching position, grabbing hold of the Stormcloak's legs and making him fall down. A kick to my face was my reward, making me see stars as the pain this time felt quite real.

"I'm not letting you go!" I snarled as I clutched on tightly, spitting out blood and pieces of broken teeth. God damn if my mouth hurt.

A strong blast of heat burned the upper side of the Nord warrior, making him scream his last as he shook violently on the ground, before he stopped, all life stripped out of his body.

Rae gasped as she turned to look to where Dragnor was fighting, the shield coming in handy more than once, especially judging by how chipped it had become. My vision was quite blurred, but as I fumbled to get back up, this time I did grab hold of the mace and slowly start to walk forward.

Raise the mace a hand's length behind your head, bring the elbow downwards quickly, let the wrist and the arm go loose. Whatever happens, happens.

It happened.

The broad shouldered back of the Nord emitted a sharp crack as I screamed, the mace slamming home with its ridges across the cloth and the chain mail. He went down with barely a sound, falling to the side as his comrade turned to look at me with a gaze filled with hatred. He paid for his mistake, as Dragnor took the cue to stab him through the leg, making the Nord scream before the blade's pommel struck him the face, sending him down on the ground for a final stab in the spine.

The man stopped screaming near-immediately, and as Dragnor freed his blade, he gave a blood-covered smile in my direction.

I was glad I had no breakfast to hurl out.

"You did good little brother!" he sheathed his blade, nearing his right hand to grab hold of the back of my head, pushing me closer as his fingers gripped tightly on my hair. "You did really good," he continued, patting my shoulder before letting me go. "Remember that when you swing a mace, you've got to be committed. Don't let the enemy trick you into swinging, or you're gonna get stabbed before you can finish your attack."

I swallowed, and nodded. Pain was all I felt the next second, at least until Rae neared with a soothing hand glowing with bright white light. Then it got better. I wasn't going to be winning any beauty contests anytime soon, but my teeth stopped being chipped messes and became...kind of normal, I guess.

"Come here too sister," Dragnor said next, and as Rae neared, he proceeded to pat her shoulder too, clutching her in a tight hug the next second. "You did well! Be proud! We could have been a great team in the Arena back home. I'm sure we'd have sold out all the seats."

"We should catch a break," Rae muttered, "It feels like hours passed in here."

"We can't," Dragnor said before I could. "We got to keep the momentum going," he added. "If we stop, your muscles will start to ache when we move again. We can rest once we're safely out."

I turned my attention to the hole in the wall, and neared it. The soft soil beyond the hole had been the work of a team of diggers, shovels and pickaxes hastily abandoned on the sides of it.

"The Stormcloaks were mounting a rescue of their Jarl," I said. "Wonder who told them he'd be here."

A loud noise of hurried steps came from behind us. Dragnor moved quickly as he pushed us both behind a column, his own body pressing against it as much as possible. More than a dozen of Stormcloaks rushed down through the room, following their leader Ulfric who didn't stop to gaze at the bodies, but simply jumped into the hole in the wall and past it.

As soon as the last Stormcloak passed us by, we all exhaled at the same time.

The keep trembled a bit more, rocks and loose dirt falling down again over our heads. Without question, we followed the Stormcloaks' passage, stopping to catch our breaths halfway into the tunnel's length.

"Let's keep a slow pace," Dragnor said, "Let the Stormcloaks go on ahead of us."

I was grasping for tendrils of air as I nodded, sweat pouring down my face as it mixed with the sick sensation of drying blood. "Yeah...nice plan," I murmured as I began to slow down my walk, limping behind Dragnor with Rae by my side.

"I am—was a senior student in High Rock," Rae said suddenly, "I came home a couple of weeks a year," she continued. "Our home was a two floor building, with a straw roof and a chimney."

I stared at her with my brows furrowing further. "We've been together since we were children," Rae continued. "The orphanage matron died in her sleep and we were kicked out on the streets."

"To make place for a nice villa for a rich fop," Dragnor continued, understanding the point Rae was trying to make.

"We were terrified," Rae said, "I remember back then that we were all terrified."

"We slept in the sewers during the cold months," Dragnor continued, "Man if it didn't reek down there."

"I don't remember any of it," I said awkwardly.

Rae shook her head. "You were barely a toddler. You clung on to Willow's leg and if she ever disappeared from your sight, you'd cry."

"Willow...who?" I asked, already half-dreading the answer.

"Well, there's ten of us, us siblings that is," Rae said. I stared at her, utterly at a loss for words. Ten? Ten siblings? The hell? Orphanage backstory or not, how was I supposed to remember ten names? "You...don't remember any of it, do you?" she smiled bitterly. "See, Dragnor? This is why I'm not going to let you off the hook so easily!" she hissed toward the Nord, "We've been together for years and now look at him, he doesn't even know about...about everything!" she clenched her fists, "You better hope this gets solved before Willow finds out."

Dragnor actually shuddered.

It wasn't a shudder of cold.

It was a shudder of pure fear.

"She won't find out if we tell him everything," Dragnor hazarded.

"We were supposed to meet in Whiterun a couple of days after crossing the border together with the others," Rae said. "Do you think you can condense more than twenty years of life into a couple of days?"

Dragnor looked away. "I can join the legion. She won't find me there."

Rae said nothing, but simply shook her head very, very slowly. This made Dragnor cringe further. "Why is he scared of her?" I asked.

"Because he can't fight what he can't see, and Willow's really good at hiding," Rae said with a small gentle smile. "And she takes the protection of all of the younger siblings really seriously. Once this big dunderhead went into a bar brawl with Mansel and Sharrum. He then got scared when the guards arrived and ran away, leaving our other two siblings to fend for themselves. Willow found out, freed the two, and then proceeded for the next two months to wake him up to a giant rat carcass in his bed and a few live mice in his trousers. Since he's a scaredy-cat, he sleeps with mice were her words."

"She is not sane of mind," Dragnor whispered, "Remember this. She's the insane one of us siblings."

I nodded very, very slowly.

The dug hallway ended up in the large room that perhaps once belonged to the old complex of the Helgen Keep, before it was abandoned in favor of a newer construction. It was one of the few things that could make sense. There were no Stormcloaks though, nor corpses.

"It's clear," Dragnor said as he walked towards the small stream that crossed the middle of the room. He dropped down next to the stream and took a few sips of the water. "Come drink this, it's clean."

"It looks clean," Rae hissed, "You fool, if you get sick, it's on your head."

She grabbed a small pot from her large sack and filled it with water from the stream before letting her left hand blaze in fire, holding the pot over it with her other hand and then quietly waiting for it to start boiling.

That was how Hadvar and two survivors of the Imperial Legion found us.

Boiling water near a stream.

"If you have the herbs, we can make tea," I said with a nervous smile, raising a hand in a tiny wave. "We're not foes, in the name of the Emperor I swear it."

The trio of Imperial soldiers looked at one another. One was a female wearing heavy armor with a greatsword on her back, the other a man wearing light armor with a bow slung over his shoulder.

"Shouldn't you be in the prison cells?" Hadvar asked, warily drawing near with his sword still unsheathed.

"Yeah, well, after you left us there with those two guards, the Stormcloaks came through and proceeded to kill them. We were spared and...you know," I tried to keep a smile on my face, "We really didn't want to stay there and suffer a bad case of death."

Hadvar nodded, "You stripped the armor off the two?"

"We didn't know where the equipment racks were," I said. "And I reckoned...hey, they're dead, we aren't. Let's try to keep it that way," I scratched the back of my head. "They fought bravely, for what it matters, but they were two against more than a dozen...they didn't stand a chance. We didn't want to escape with them, I mean, all three of us come from Cyrodiil, and we're loyal to the Emperor. The Stormcloaks would have killed us in a matter of minutes after realizing we were following them, so we let them go."

"So you felt justified in stealing Imperial armor from the corpses of Imperial soldiers?" Hadvar asked, even as Dragnor was slowly moving to stand up.

"It's not stealing if we become part of the Legion," I continued. "And as things are, I guess we're all in the same boat. Look, you helped us out with your captain, we have no reason to fight, and we just want to get back to our lives. I do not know if the Stormcloaks that went through here all left, or if they left someone behind to guard their backs. We did battle our way through a few of their patrols to get here. The way I see it, six armored people are better than three armored and three buck-naked ones," I patted my chest. "We've already dirtied our weapons with the blood of Stormcloaks too, so...can't the price for the armor be considered paid with the blood of our common enemies?"

Hadvar took a deep breath. "Very well," he said, "Once we're out of danger, we'll see what to do with this mess."

"Thank you, and may Akatosh protect us all," I said with a sigh of relief, before taking a sip of the water proffered by Rae. I then extended the pot towards the trio. "Care to share the drink?"

Thus six people sat and caught their breaths.

Dragnor was right though.

My legs hurt like there was no tomorrow once we stood back up.

How much longer could this damn dungeon go?

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Four - Wilderness - 17th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra

We stepped outside to the dying light of the sun, and the rising brilliance of the stars. Well, the others stepped outside. I dragged myself out with the sweat leaving my skin by the score, by body hurting in places and muscles I didn't even know I had.

"Riverwood's not far," Hadvar said. "We can reach it by marching through the night and sticking to the road."

"March...ing?" I wheezed out, coughing and shaking my head.

"There's nothing out here but the wilderness," Hadvar replied. "Marching is a better alternative, and the Imperial army needs to be warned of what happened at Helgen."

"Yeah, yeah..." I coughed once more, even as I felt Rae's hand pat my back. I shuddered from the cold, biting winds. "I can't take another step. You go on ahead. We'll see each others in Solitude anyway."

Hadvar actually seemed ready to say something else, but he thought better of it, and nodded. "We'll get a carriage from Whiterun. If you manage to catch up to us, we'll cover the road together."

"Sure!" Dragnor grinned, and once the trio of Imperial soldiers had vacated the premises, he turned towards Rae and I. "I'll set up camp at the entrance of the cave. Beats staying out in the wilds at night." He began to pluck from the ground what branches and dry leafs he could find. Rae gently dragged me back beneath the archway of stone, helping me sit down as she proceeded to check my temperature with her cool hands on my forehead.

"You're running a fever," she whispered.

"You don't look rosy cheeked either," I croaked back, only for her to shake her head.

"The duty of the healer is to treat the patient before himself," she said as she dropped with care her sack. I absentmindedly removed the backpack I had taken from the torturer's room, and as I fumbled with the bag's clasps, I felt the jingling of gold coins inside one of the pockets.

I chuckled. "Hey, we got ourselves...four gold coins," I placed the back of my head against the rocky wall, pulling out what felt like a book to my hands, my eyes half-closed from tiredness. I opened them and strained myself to read the title. "The Book of the Dragonborn," I flipped open the pages, my eyes trying hard to decipher the characters that without light were nearly impossible to read.

"You'll strain your eyes. Wait for the day before reading a book," Dragnor's grubby and dirty fingers grabbed the book out of my hands as he snapped it to a close, "But we can use the paper to start the fire."

"Or we can sell it when we reach the closest village," Rae replied. She pushed her hair back and began to work on setting a few rocks in a circular pattern, into which Dragnor threw the leafs and the wooden sticks. A couple of minutes later, and a small fire burned brightly in the circle of rocks. A thick dark blue cloak was put around my back by Rae's careful hands, and as I furrowed my brows and opened my mouth to ask, she grinned and answered me before I could get a word in. "Ripped off a few Stormcloaks' mantles."

"Is there one for me too?" Dragnor asked, his breathing emitting large clouds of haze as he sat down near the fire after having gathered some more wood, throwing a branch on the fire after snapping it in half.

"I don't know," Rae said, pursing her lips. "Do you deserve sleeping with something warm to cover you?"

"He does," I said before Dragnor could protest, "Everyone...does," I mumbled as I closed my eyes, my head pounding from what could only be fever. I heard Rae snort, and mutter something I didn't quite catch.

"Don't go to sleep yet," Rae said, "I've got to cook dinner. We've got a pot, some water, some rabbit and some cabbage. We'll eat a dinner worthy of a king tonight."

"Speaking of meat," Dragnor said as he suddenly stood up, "There was that bear carcass back in the cave and that wheeled cart. Let's see if I can't get something nice out of it."

My eyes bleakly opened to the figure of Dragnor moving back into the depths of the cave. "Cut me some strips of bear meat and I'll make jerky out of it!"

The affirmative reply from the back of the cave was accompanied with the sound of hacking, slashing and ripping.

"Can I help?" I asked with a pained whisper, trying to scuttle closer to the fire only for Rae to gingerly shake her head.

"You stay there. You did a lot today and you need your rest," she said with a small smile.

"Your hands are shaking," I pointed out, glancing at the trembling fingers that clutched each others while in wait for the food to cook. "Do you want to talk about it?"

Rae forcefully smiled, and then shook her head. "No, it's nothing. It's just...I never killed a man before. A few animals to trap their souls into Soul Gems yes, but..." she looked down at the pot. "Oh...how am I going to stir this now?" she mumbled, before grabbing her iron dagger and using it to move the bits and pieces around the pot. "We don't even have spoons, but we do have cups. We can use those."

"You did nothing wrong, big sister Rae," I whispered. "It was us or them."

"I know that," Rae said, "But I'm just...maybe there was another way." She shook her head. "No, there probably wasn't. It's just...the first thing my teacher told me was to not let magic go over my head. You're a gutter rat. A pretty gutter rat, but still a rat. If you never forget that, you'll master magic, otherwise magic will master you. That's what he used to say," she smiled softly.

"I don't think you'd let magic get to your head," I said honestly enough. "Otherwise...you wouldn't care about it being wrong, would you?"

Rae kept a smile on her face, "I guess so, but you know Umbra, with your silver tongue you'd say anything to make me feel better, even if it were objectively wrong."

I sheepishly smiled. "You're the prettiest big sister I have?"

Rae laughed gingerly, "Don't let your other sisters hear you say that or they'll think you don't like them anymore," she joked, "But I guess you don't remember your other sisters, so it's a moot point."

"What are they like?" I asked.

"It's better if you remember them by yourself," Rae said. "Perhaps that's the best way to go about it."

A bear head rolled by my side, the creature's tongue lolled out as Dragnor settled down by my side, using the furry top as an armrest. He had dragged all the way to the entrance the wheeled cart, and had filled it with the bear's bits and pieces. He handed off a set of long thin strips of meat to Rae, who pulled the pot to the side of the fire to grab a few more wooden sticks and pierce the strips through their lengths.

She then set them close to the fire to dry, pouring a good pinch of salt over them.

"So, out of all of our siblings, you must only fake it with Willow," Dragnor said. "She's a Bosmer, golden eyes, hazel hair. She's found her roots a decade ago, and thus follows the Green Pact to the letter. She only eats meat, doesn't hurt the forest or its animals and has a really terrible vindictive streak. When you see her, you must rush forward and hug her tight while saying things like beautiful older sister Willow, Dragnor's innocent or you look even better than I last remembered, because I do remember you and everyone else in our family, and clearly Dragnor isn't at fault for making me lose my memory. Not that I lost my memory or anything. Understood?"

I chuckled.

"I'll tell her exactly that," I said with a small smile.

"Good! Good," Dragnor nodded. "You know, before losing your memories, you always did what I told you. If I told you to go speak to a pretty lady to enhance my charms, you'd go right ahead. And if I ever was in trouble with the guards, you'd come to my rescue rather than let me spend some days in a cold, dank cell."

I nodded, even as Rae's lips twitched in a smile.

"Also, I am your favorite older brother. You paid my debts, all of them, with a smile on your face."

I furrowed my brows. "You shouldn't have debts," I said. "Play as much as you have, not as much as you think you'll earn."

"That's silly, if I've got good cards then how can I not play to win?"

Rae interrupted Dragnor by passing him a cup filled with warm stew, and then did the same to me. I took a tentative sip, and then moaned in pleasure as the warm broth traveled down my throat.

"Thank the Gods we didn't end up with Hirume," Dragnor said after he finished his cup, "We would have starved to death."

"I should have followed her counsel and waited for the others rather than just follow you two dunderheads. No, rather, it was your idea in particular Dragnor. The wind is howling outside this comfy inn! A sign that Shor is calling, let us follow it! And then you dragged Umbra along and I followed you two because we both know you'd get him killed otherwise and look! Look what just happened! We were scheduled for the chopping block! The. Chopping. Block!" Rae's voice began to grow further higher as she kept on speaking, Dragnor shrinking against the wall. "And as always in your case Umbra sweet talked the guards into letting us off the hook!"

"That just makes us the perfect duo of adventurers?" Dragnor hazarded.

"No, it makes you a duo of foolish dunderheads," Rae said, taking a deep breath and trying to calm herself. "There. I said all that I had to say. Let's speak of this no more."

"He was really cool fighting off the Stormcloaks though," I said hesitantly.

Rae's glare made me shrink back too.

Dragnor patted my shoulder, a brotherly smile of pride on his lips.

I smiled back, and finished my dinner before licking my lips.

Sadly, there were no seconds.

What a cruel, cruel world.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Five - Wilderness - 18th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra

I woke up to a sharp shoulder shaking, and yet I didn't want to wake up. I had found the perfect position to sleep, curled against the wall of the cave and trapping against it the hot air generated by a mixture of my night's perspiration and my sheer body temperature. It was a comfortable spot that even though had all of my bones broken, most of my muscles aching, and definitely saw me twitch more often than not, still was better than the alternative of getting up and starting the morning with the knowledge that only a long march of at least eight hours stood in front of us.

Eight hours of marching for an Imperial trained soldier. For the likes of us, or more precisely for the likes of me, it would take way longer. We'd probably arrive in the late afternoon, and that was if we didn't encounter any troublesome things to slow us down. Though I sincerely hoped that wolves wouldn't be our attackers, I couldn't do anything but pray for it. People could be reasoned with, bandits could be turned away by showing empty pockets and raised hands, but hungry animals would attack once they believed they could take the prey down.

Breakfast consisted of bear meat stew and sips of boiled water, the breakfast of champions if I could say so myself. Only it wasn't, because the bear didn't feed on berries, but fish. So it was like tasting the low tide, and I, having lived in a coastal town, knew very well what kind of low tide it was. The fat had been trimmed, and thankfully the stew had a few vegetables in it to cover the taste, but it was still something that I forced down my throat in order to keep my shaking body warm, rather than something I ate because I Found it good.

Do not waste food, especially not in emergency situations where every tiny scrap counts.

Once we were done, Dragnor grabbed hold of the cart's two wooden shafts and began to pull it forward, the wheels creaking until he managed to get past the inertia, at which point it became a sort of smooth walk.

"Are you sure you can pull it all the way to the next village?" Rae asked, concern in her voice.

"Sure," Dragnor huffed. "Once we get there, we'll put money aside to buy a horse to pull it."

"Horses have prices that vary wildly, but mainly stick to an average of one thousand septims," I coughed out, "I don't think we'll ever get that much money in one go."

Dragnor sighed, "Then I'll just pull it along until we finally buy a horse. How does that sound?"

"You'll just get tired sooner," Rae muttered.

"It's good training," Dragnor replied with a cheeky grin. "And this way, I get to keep the pace with you slowpokes who can't even be bothered to run thrice around the Imperial Arena each morning like I did," he laughed brightly. "Where would you be without me, I wonder?"

"Back inside the comfy inn," Rae and I both said at the same time, before we both looked at one another and burst out in giggles and chuckles, Dragnor groaning in reply. The winds of Skyrim billowed against the top of the large trees, the snow slowly but surely coming less as we reached closer to the White River. There were a few butterflies flapping their beautiful wings around, and Rae took a small breath before zapping a few down with tiny bolts of electricity, rushing to pluck their wings off.

She repeated the procedure with the various plants we crossed along the way, sometimes bringing whole pieces on the back of the cart, grinning brightly. "Now if I just find a mortar and a pestle I can get to work on making something to keep us warm."

"I will not drink anything made with butterfly wings," Dragnor grumbled.

"Then I will forcefully pour it down your throat," Rae replied without missing a beat. "Don't worry, there won't be any icky insect wings inside my potion. Berries and flowers, it's going to be a bit spicy though, so try to bear with it."

"I most certainly will," Dragnor said.

I grabbed the head of the bear from the back of the carriage, and held it aloft for the other two to see, "I will bear it too," I said.

Dragnor's guffawing was accompanied by Rae's lips twitching. I put the bear head back on the carriage, and as the road stretched in front of us, I bleakly began to close my eyes every now and then as we walked. The road was pretty much uneven, but my head felt heavy, and my body shook from tremors. Yet it was better to move than to just crawl on the back of the wheeled carriage. I didn't think Dragnor would be quite capable of pulling myself along with the carriage and the bear's remains.

I felt the sores form beneath the soles of my feet as I placed one step ahead of another, my shoulders stiff and my arms in pain. The sun over our heads was warm, but I didn't need the sun because my brain was boiling by itself. It was the dull thrumming of a high fever, and yet I pushed through because one more step taken towards Riverwood was one step less in the wilderness.

The silence was broken by Dragnor stopping the cart, and glancing at a split in the road. "Helgen, Riverwood and Falkreath," he said. "I guess Riverwood's closer," he turned to look at Rae. "It's been a couple of hours. Want to rest here?"

"I am getting tired," Rae acquiesced.

I nodded in turn, catching my breath as I plopped down with my back against the wooden sign. My eyes went naturally up, to where the big Skyrim trees seemed to split apart a few meters away, to give one a perfect view of Bleak Falls Barrow, the number one dungeon that everyone playing Skyrim did, if nothing else because the Main Quest demanded it. I felt Dragnor's body land by my side, having taken a seat to share the wooden pole after dragging a couple of rocks in front of the wheels of the carriage to prevent it from moving.

"Back in Cyrodiil, when you were young, you used to love getting piggybacks," Dragnor said as he began to clean one of his swords, using a piece of bear fur to do the job. "If I wasn't the one giving you a piggyback, then it was one of the others. You preferred Hirume though, because she was the tallest."

"You liked her silver hair too," Rae giggled as she propped down on my other side. "You couldn't stop playing with it whenever she was sitting down, and thus at arm's reach. You made such funny hairstyles! She would always fuss about how you were ruining her hair, but she didn't really bother stopping you."

"When was I born?" I asked next.

Rae smiled awkwardly. "We're all orphans, little brother. None of us know the month or day when we were born, but we know who's older and who isn't, so...we all decided to pick the same day to celebrate our birthdays. It's the tenth day of Frostfall."

"I see," I muttered, closing my eyes and taking small breaths. When I opened my eyes again, I realized I was resting on a stiff wooden surface with wheels. The change had been kind of jarring, but my half-asleep brain didn't catch up, and as I snuggled a bit more on the warm fur beneath my cheek, I hugged myself and allowed sleep to claim me again. I woke up again in a warm bed. This time I most definitely realized what had happened, especially because my fever had gone down, or perhaps disappeared entirely, and my stomach was thus grumbling because of hunger.

The bed I was in was quite large, and it could have easily fit two or more people. I tentatively took a look around the room, the large door at the end of the room closed even though loud noises were coming through it. I bleakly got to the side of the bed, and winced at the cold that seeped past the thick wool covers. My entire body was in pain, but this kind of pain was something I could feel and withstand.

I wobbled towards the dresser, opening it to retrieve the Imperial armor. Now that I got a good look at it, it was a nice set of leather pieces all lacking the symbols of the dragon which instead was meant to be on the shield. I winced as I began to unbuckle the various straps in order to put it on. The clothes I was wearing weren't the ragged pieces of clothes I had held beneath, but cleaner versions of them.

The blood red tabard was a single piece of cloth that went first, covering the skin and preventing the armor from chaffing once it was clasped on. The times of Larping proved useful, because while it wasn't as easy as it seemed, it still followed some set rules. The first being that scouts had to be quick to dress, and this in turn translated into easy to wear armor.

By the time I was set, the mace clasped to my side and the shield hanging from my back, I stepped out of the room after checking inside the chest by the bed's end and inside each drawer I could get my hands on. As was predictable, I found a grand total of seven Septims.

Imperial luck was definitely a thing. I now had...seven Septims. The four I had found before had probably ended up in Rae or Dragnor's pouches, and I wasn't going to hold it against them. They might have used them to get a room for the night, perhaps finding work to cover the difference while they dropped me in bed. I made a grand total of three steps before the bartender looked at me and said a single word. "Wait."

I stopped, and then I neared the counter. "Yes?" I asked, trying to filch through my memories for his name, and failing miserably at that.

"Your siblings left Riverwood for the day. They paid the room until tomorrow," he spoke crisply, and then proceeded to put away a few empty metal cups. "Said not to worry."

I nodded, "Where did they go?" I asked, half-dreading the answer. Where all Dragonborns post-Helgen go, of course.

"Didn't say," the man continued.

"Thank you," I answered as I stepped away from the counter, passing by the side of the long fire pit in the center of the room. There were more than a few men and women sitting at the tables, most of those I didn't even recognize. No, to be truly honest, none of them I recognized. This was Riverwood, but it was as if somebody had decided to throw dozens and dozens of tall German-looking people into the mix, adding a couple of spruces of color with some Redguards, a nice hint of fur with a Khajiit smoking a pipe in a corner and a few imperials looking quite distressed.

I didn't make the door.

"Hey you!" an Imperial I had never seen before in my entire life spoke harshly, standing up from a nearby table. "What's the meaning of this!? Why is the border closed? If my merchandise rots, who's going to pay for it, the legion?" he had all of the bearings of the rich merchant, and as I looked at him with a puzzled expression, as if trying to understand just who he could ever possibly be, the man actually jabbed a finger against my chest. "I'm talking to you, you good for nothing soldier! Spent your time drinking mead with the Septims we hard-working merchants get robbed of with your obscene taxes for the war effort, and you can't even give me a good enough answer as to what is going on!?"

"I apologize," I said, taking the wind out of the merchant's sail to get a word in. "You are, of course, entitled to a full refund on your spoiled merchandise should you first of all give me your name, and a piece of parchment with the list of what you are carrying," I gingerly closed my left fist and thumped it near my heart, "On my honor as a soldier of the Imperial legion, I will see to it that my superior is told of what has transpired and proper reparations will be made for the merchandise should it spoil before the border is reopened."

The imperial merchant smiled smugly, "Ah, a soldier who knows how the world works," he turned with a grin towards his fellows, "See? What did I tell you? Nobody dares say no to me."

"Attrebus, cut the man some slack," another of the Imperial merchants spoke from the table Attrebus had apparently stood up from in order to come bother me. He had a pudgy-looking face and patches of burnt skin on his head, making it look as if he had survived an encounter with quite the intense flame. "There's a civil war going on, what did you expect they'd do?"

There were five of them, all males and all wearing expensive clothes. "You speak like that only because you served in the legion, Vlarimil," Attrebus replied. "That's what's wrong with today's soldiers. They don't even know what discipline is. When I was a child, they would never spend their nights getting drunk into a stupor, or prevent honest-working merchants from doing their job!"

"I think you should let the kid go about his business, because he doesn't look the type who got drunk and spent the night sleeping it off," Vlarimil replied. "You trying to get back to your legion in Solitude? There were three others who passed by here yesterday morning, as if they had wolves on their tails. They stopped by the blacksmith's, so you might ask him where they went."

I nodded, "Solitude," I answered. "It's..." I glanced right and left, "Would you permit me to join your table for a few minutes? Since you have shown me kindness, I'll return it." Vlarimil smiled and nodded, scuttling to the side to allow me to sit by his side, and as Attrebus sat down too, the three remaining merchants huddled closer to hear. "This is confidential," I whispered, "I tell you this in good conscience, from an Imperial to another, hoping it might help you think what is best between your lives or your merchandise," I swallowed, "Helgen has fallen," I said. "The Stormcloaks freed their leader from his chopping block, and set the whole place and the keep ablaze."

"What!? That's-" I whipped my left hand out, and smacked the mouth of the merchant who had made the outburst, hissing for silence all the while. He winced from the blow, but quickly scuttled back down while massaging his lips.

"Hush," I hissed, "The border is closed, but I suggest you take my counsel and leave all the same," I continued. "Skyrim's civil war will reach its end soon enough. General Tullius won't stand for this, and the Stormcloaks have grown bold enough to burn villages and villagers alike."

"Barbaric," Attrebus whispered, his body shaking. "Absolutely barbaric," he continued. "I..." he grabbed the bottle of wine in front of him and drank a long gulp of it. "How did it fall?"

"The Stormcloaks infiltrated the village, perhaps they always planned on doing it, perhaps they knew where Ulfric would be executed," I murmured, "When it was time to execute him, hell broke loose. Catapults, fire...perhaps they hoped to take the General's life, perhaps they just had planned on taking the town closest to the border with the Empire...whatever the reason, people were screaming and dying as Ulfric used his voice to rip apart men and carve his way out of the village. The soldiers in the keep were slaughtered, and while the general managed to escape on horseback, we had our road cut off and dispersed in the keep to avoid the Stormcloaks' coming in from outside," I took a deep breath, "I don't know how many escaped, but it was a massacre. Ulfric won't be satisfied until everyone who isn't a Nord is killed," I finished, clenching my fists. "So...If I were in you, for your safety, I would leave as quickly as possible. And be careful around Helgen for the stragglers..."

One of the merchants looked awfully white, "I...Thank the Eight...I wanted to spend the night there rather than come all the way back here," he clutched his throat, "We could have died," he whispered.

"We could still die," Vlarimil said firmly. "Our safest bet is selling what we have in Solitude, getting a fair price, and then transferring it into jewels before buying a passage on a boat to circle past High Rock and Hammerfell."

"That alone would cut our earnings to nil!" one of the merchants that hadn't yet spoken hissed.

"Better no earnings than being burned alive!" Attrebus snapped, "With all due respect, I don't want to look like Vlarimil ever in my life!"

"And I know fully well how much it hurts to get on the receiving end of magical fire," Vlarimil said in turn. He turned to look at me, his piercing blue eyes staring right into mine, "Listen," he put a hand on my shoulder, "If you ever face a mage, shield your face. Let the shield hit him as you charge, or cover the archers. Mages aim at those first. They get the eyes, and then the face. This...this is good counsel, so follow it well and once it's all over, we'll meet again in Cyrodiil. Look me up in Anvil's Trading outpost and we can share war stories."

"And this is from me," Attrebus said, "Forget about the spoiled merchandise," he hastily grabbed out of his pocket a small pouch of coins, and passed it over. "There's no point in paying Helgen's trade tax if there's no Helgen, is there? Use it to get yourself a sturdy helmet or something. Blows to the head are a nasty business for soldiers."

I blinked as a few more pouches reached my side from the other merchants, and the moment I gathered them, I smiled. "Blessing of the Eight upon you all, but now I'd better go. I must return as swiftly as possible to my legion and..."

Vlarimil's hand patted my shoulder. "Go with Kynareth," he said with a smile. "I'm too old now, or I'd come with you and enlist again. I'm sure it's going to be one hell of a war, but if there are courageous young men like you fighting it, then perhaps there is hope."

I swallowed, and nodded before standing up and turning my back on the five to leave.

I opened the door, gave one last quick look behind me, and then stepped outside to brave the cold of the Skyrim morning with enough speed to startle the drunken man drinking mead on the patio.

My heart drummed a thousand miles per hour as I did the smartest thing I could do and rushed head-first towards the Guardian Stones.

The table I had left behind mere seconds before was, after all, completely empty.

Fuck.

Fuck.

Fuck.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Six - Wilderness - 18th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra

The Guardian stones were a fair distance from Riverwood, but I followed the bank of the river, skirting around the gleaming shells of the mud-crabs that seemed content in letting me be just as long as I did the same with them. The speed at which I marched was second only to the desire I had to put as much distance, both physical and temporal, between what had happened and what was going on.

Either those five imperial merchants had been the fastest diner and dashers of the world, or they had been a representation of something else. Whoever that something else had been, I didn't want to find out. No, honestly, I really didn't want to do anything even remotely related to anything Aedric, Daedric, or God-like, but I reckoned there was little choice. The ant thrust on a leaf boat in the middle of the waves can but hold on tightly until the currents cease. Still, even if the Guardian stones didn't work, even if they were nothing more than a palliative, I would feel better at least having one of them to watch my back.

Magic wasn't such a bad idea, was it? I could learn how to do the lightning bolt. How hard could it be? Didn't everyone start out with the basic knowledge of the Flame Spell? Perhaps I had forgotten it, but I could do that, couldn't I? I swallowed as I stopped on a small hill overlooking the White River. It was a breath-taking view. Even though the cold was pungent, and the wind whistled sharply, it was really a beautiful scenery.

The clacking of pincers from below attracted my attention, and as I lowered my head to look down, I saw a mud crab clack up at me, moving right and left its pincers as if to challenge me for supremacy over the small hilltop. "Flame power, activate," I hazarded as I extended my right hand, currently free of my mace. "Fire power, action?" I twitched my fingers, and nothing happened. "By the power of Fire?" I hazarded. "Add command Fire spell?" I thrust my right arm back and forth, nothing coming out from my open palm. "Dark flame of the abyss?" nothing, of course, happened.

The mud crab kept clacking its pincers.

I looked to the right and to the left once more, and once I realized there was no one else but us two, I crouched down in front of it. "Hey there," I said. "You look like someone I can talk to," I continued in a hushed whisper. "See," I swallowed, "I think I'm going mad."

The mud crab kept clacking its pincers. It was quite the conversational partner, I had to admit.

"I'm not fit to be a hero of sorts," I hissed, "do I look like a hero? Do I? Honestly, I'm hoping those five were a company of travelling mages who enjoy drinking Invisibility potions to get off by scaring poor sods off."

As the mud crab didn't seem to want to come challenge my position any longer, simply staying there clacking its song of war, I carefully opened the first of the pouches that I had been given. Inside, there were tiny jingling coins all right, but thirteen in number. I sighed and transferred them to the bottom of my backpack, before doing the same with the other pouches. A grand total of sixty-seven gold coins now rested in my backpack. They didn't jingle because I muffled them by wrapping them tightly around a piece of cloth, which answered the question on where the ragged clothes that I had worn before had ended.

In the meantime, the mud crab had learned the ancient art of walking to the side of the hill, and was starting to make its way up the road towards me. I gingerly unsheathed my mace and then carefully neared the creature. This wasn't a life or death situation, and so I could take my time.

Well, rather than take my time, I simply tried to poke the creature on the side, carefully flipping it on its back until it became unoffensive. "Go back to your river bank," I said as I flipped the mud crab once more, this time towards the river. "Shoo, shoo," I said as I kept poking the crab's side, the creature actually taking the cue and clacking with its pincers away, back into the river.

With a nod, I turned back to the road, this time at a slower pace.

My legs were sore by the time I reached for the guardian stones, three tall monoliths with thick tree roots on the stone surface between them. I neared one, its height easily twice mine. Everything here looked bigger than in the game, and these stones were no difference. My fingers gingerly caressed the surface of the Warrior stone, which while not having any of the markings from the game, and thus no easy to decipher image, was still cool to the touch.

"I don't know if I need to say anything," I said in a murmur, glancing at the empty circle of metal that in the game would be glowing with blue light by now. "Or make a pledge of sorts, but...I'd really, really like it if I didn't die because of some lucky bandit hitting me in the neck with an arrow, or a war-hammer to the face. I could go to another stone, but I always thought that Guardian stones were meant to offset the lack of natural talent in an area, and when it comes to hiding, speaking or well, anything else, I'm pretty much set. So...please look over me." I grimaced. "Whether this is a dream, or reality, or reality made dream or dream made reality, whether things go well or badly...please make sure I raise my shield in time for the arrows I do not see, and jump back from the swings I do not believe are in reach."

I grimaced as I looked at the empty space at the top of the guardian stone, which remained inactive.

"Nice talking to you," I murmured as a farewell, leaving the monolith behind as I began the trek back. I actually had the deep unsettling feeling that something or someone was going to attack on my way back, but nothing happened. The walls of Riverwood were unmanned, but still made me feel safer than staying outside.

"Excuse me," I said as soon as I got within range of the blacksmith, the man working at the forge where countless swords were resting inside the hot coals, iron bars being heated to take on the shape best suited for them. I reckoned there was magic involved in the process too, or the forge wouldn't have worked so well.

"What do you need?" the blacksmith asked, without as much as turning around.

"A sturdier helmet," I replied. "I was...counseled to get a sturdy one."

This time, the man did turn, and after glancing at me briefly, spoke. "I thought Imperial regulations were against personalizing one's armor."

I grimaced, "I'm not really an Imperial soldier. Not yet anyway," I added quickly. "I was in Helgen when it was attacked, and...well, I wore the first thing that looked like it could help me survive."

"Ah," the blacksmith said. "I see," he looked at my helmet, which I had already removed. "I might have something sturdier." His workplace wasn't as neatly ordered, nor as small, as it had been in the game. It took not just the side of his house, but also the back of it. There were weapon racks kept closed with cloth, a large storehouse of sorts that had been built to keep some of the heavier equipment and a few mannequins holding on to small pieces of armor safe.

Perhaps when there was more traffic along the cobbled road, he'd put them out on display hoping to attract a merchant's guard patronage. Still, he opened the lock of his storehouse and went in, coming out a few seconds later with a sturdy leather helmet.

"I have only sixty-seven Septims," I said as I extended my pouch, "Will they be enough?"

"It's been here gathering dust for a few months," the blacksmith replied, "I'm a honest man, and you don't look like you need two helmets. Also, wearing that armor might give you more troubles than its worth. How about we trade it all in bulk? I've got a full set of armor made with the best leather of Riverwood, and you can pay the difference off by chopping wood for me until tonight."

"That's...a kind offer," I said, "But I've got to go after my siblings. I don't know where they went, but I'm sure I can find out."

"The Nord man and the Breton woman?" the blacksmith asked, and to my nod, he continued, "They asked me about Bleak Falls Barrow." He extended the leather helmet, and as I handed him over the imperial one, and my pouch filled with Septims, he threw the pouch back at me. As I hastily caught it, he said, "I won't be so crude as to take away a man's entire pouch of gold. If you rush, you should be able to catch up to them before they reach the Barrow," he jabbed his thumb towards the far end of Riverwood, which as a village was bigger than the game had ever show, "Head through the main door and past the bridge, then keep climbing. When it gets so cold you'd wish you'd stayed home drinking mead, keep climbing."

I smiled as I plopped the leather helmet on my head, fixing it firmly with a small push of my hands. "Thank you," I said. "May Ysmir safeguard you and yours."

The blacksmith nodded in turn, and I left him there taking a fast jog through the main road that was filled with people, coming and going and mainly Nord, but still with the average Imperial, or Redguard even. Bretons were there too, more than a few actually having put up small stands where they sold some of their alchemy wares. They were merchants headed for the border gates, people who didn't yet know of Helgen's demise, and that would probably disperse across the whole of Skyrim given enough time.

Yet as I passed past them, I kept on thinking that if Riverwood, a town that had barely a dozen or so Non Playable Characters in the game, was now a thriving small village with more than fifty inhabitants and dozens of merchants, then what of Whiterun? What of Solitude?

The Civil War...would it be bloodier? Would there be death, and pillaging? Would censorship not strike because there was nothing to strike? Would the implied become real? And what of Miraak and Harkon? What of the Vampires and the Werewolves? I...if one thought about it, then a lot of shit was going to fall down on our heads at the same time as the Civil War and Alduin.

These were truly the end times.

But in my case, I barely made it past the bridge when something happened.

That something came in the form of an arrow which hit the metal crest of the leather helmet and bounced off it, but not before denting it and throwing me off-balance. I landed on my back, which meant landing on my backpack and my shield, and yet as I hastily tried to gather my bearings, I rolled on my stomach, feeling the thunk of another arrow hitting my shield even as I gasped and tried to crawl on all fours to the side of the bridge. Another arrow hit the cobblestone near me, and shattered in half.

Moving my arm to unclasp my shield, I nervously brought it in front of me, trying to peek from the side for the potential attacker only to come up empty-handed. There was no one in sight. Past the bridge the road split, one twisting and turning up and the second instead headed in the direction of Whiterun. An arrow was stuck on the wood of the shield, and as I cautiously swallowed, hearing my heartbeat drum in the back of my head as my tongue tasted the ashes of my fear, I could but twitch my head like crazy right and left, trying to find the mysterious assailant.

I heard the snap of a string, the whistling of an arrow, and I reacted by hiding most heroically behind my shield making my body as small as possible. The arrow hit the shield, and this time as I allowed my head to emerge, I saw the figure in the shadows behind the large trees past the bridge, a bow held in her left hand as she used her right to quickly grab another arrow from her figure and pull back the string of her bow.

"Can't we talk about it?!" I yelled. "I yield! If it's money you want, you can have it!"

"Skyrim belongs to the Nords, Imperial!" the bandit yelled back, the voice definitely female.

"It belongs to the Emperor, Northerner!" I shot right back at her.

"I am a Nord, not a Northerner!" she bellowed back.

"The correct term is Northerner since you're North from Cyrodiil, the heart of the Empire!" I exclaimed loudly.

"No it's not! I am a Nord, my father was a Nord and we are all Nords!" she hollered. "I never heard of the word Northerner!"

"That's because you probably never went to school," I snapped back, "Also, you should all be about glory and honor, but what kind of honor is it when you throw arrows from the dark? The honor of cowards!"

The woman released her bow, and I aptly hid behind my shield for yet one more satisfying thunk. "I am not a coward!" the woman yelled, another arrow already set on her string. "I'll have my revenge for what you Imperial scum did to my family! I'm going to kill you all and gut you like a horker!"

I furrowed my brows, "Hey, out of curiosity...are you from Winterhold or Eastmarch?"

"That's none of your business!" the woman let loose another arrow.

This time it didn't hit the shield but came awfully close to hitting my side. She was moving trying to get past my shield, but I had my back against the bridge's wall, so I just had to wait until she finished her arrows, because she damn well couldn't have an unlimited number of those.

"I'm just trying to make conversation! My name is Umbra, by the way, nice weather today, don't you think?" I asked only to receive an arrow in-between my legs, having passed right below my shield and bounced off to hit the cobblestones and not...my man parts. "Oi!" I yelled, "You shouldn't aim at a man's jewels!"

"You don't have anything down there, you coward milk-drinker!" the bandit woman yelled once more. I peeked once more, and this time I saw her trying to move closer, her bow still tense, an arrow still on her bowstring. She had blond and fair hair, and stood tall and well-built. She was wearing a fur armor of sorts, which covered the important parts of her body and left uncovered little to nothing. She wasn't pretty for the definition of the term, but she wasn't ugly either. She was kind of average, all things said.

"I have a family," I said, "I have a sister and a brother who are counting on me to be alive by the time they come back," I continued. "I know you aren't an evil person."

She clutched the arrow on her bow tighter. "Yeah? Then why don't you put down your shield so I can tell you?"

"I'll do it if you lower your bow," I said. "I don't want to fight. My siblings are headed for Bleak Fall Barrows, and I've got to catch up to them, so please...just let me pass and I'll give you the Septims I have on my person. They aren't much, but they can buy a few warm meals and a bed for a couple of nights."

"And what if I spend it all on mead and skooma instead?" sarcasm laced the voice of the bandit, who did not let the arrow loose, but neither lowered her bow.

"It will be your choice," I said, "but if that's true...then somewhere, deep down, we both know you really want something warm to eat to feel human again."

"Pretentious asshole!" she let loose the arrow, and as I actually let it hit against the shield, I rushed forth in turn and slammed my shield's side like an extension of my fist against her face, before slamming my right fist in turn against her stomach. The fur dulled the blow as I jumped back, grasping for my mace as I heard her scream. She was on the ground, clutching her face where the sharp edges of my shield had apparently left a mark of bloody skin and broken nose. I swallowed as I drew near, and then placed my right foot on her stomach.

She stopped moving, standing deadly still. Her eyes were wide with the primal fear of death, and even her breathing had hitched. Now that I looked at her from this close, she didn't look older than perhaps twenty, twenty-two. No, honestly, she looked young.

"I'm going to let you live," I said, swallowing thickly. "But please...you're still in time to change your path. You make for an awful bandit." I took a step back, and then bent down to leave her my gold pouch, barring seven Septims which I quickly counted and held in my hands. "Go buy yourself something warm," and then I rushed off before she decided to grab her bow and strike me in the back, taking long and deep breaths as I tried my hardest to put as much distance between us as it was humanly possible.

I never was much of a sprinter, but I reckon that with the fear of death behind me, I did a good job in covering a hundred meters uphill in something like four to five minutes.

My heart demanded forgiveness, but I gave it none.

There you go, strange Aedra or Daedra beings who gave not-really cryptic bullshit orders. I've done your job.

Now, please, let this be the end, all right?

When snow and frost, chilling winds and slippery ice met me in what could only be considered as a blatant disregard for the laws that governed thermodynamics and physics I knew that my plead would go unanswered.

But still, I would soldier on.

I walked on the winding path up for what felt like a dozen minutes, and once the wind and the snow began to abate, my sight saw the large stone tower that was home to a trio of bandits, or perhaps a few more. It looked empty, so perhaps Rae and Dragnor had already gone past it. I neared the stone bridge, but if there were traces of a fight, the heavy snow had already removed them.

I stepped inside the watchtower, glad to get out of the wind as my arms were starting to turn blue, and made my way towards the drawer. I didn't even need to bother with thinking that there wouldn't be gold in there.

Because there was.

"I now have eleven Septims," I muttered as I palmed the coin and then readied myself for the greatest folly of them all. I wouldn't just be climbing the icy stairs inside the tower, but I would also have to head outside and climb the creaking wooden planks in order to reach the upper level. The snow-covered, probably icy, wooden planks without guardrails of sorts that dropped down into the abyss known as a mountain chasm.

I gave one look at the billowing winds, the snow and the steep inclination...

And then decided that the better part of valor was to stick to the corner of the tower by the window, where apparently some bed rolls stood tied and closed, as if waiting for their owners to return.

The fact that there were three of them, all neatly put in a corner made me think that it was by planned design, as if somebody had decided to come back for them at a latter date.

Rae had done this without a doubt.

Thus, I had to keep going.

Even so, as I took the first step down the stairs, the blond-haired bandit from before stepped inside the watchtower with a goat's carcass on her back.

She turned her head up and looked at me.

I looked down at her.

Well.

This was awkward.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Seven - Wilderness - 18th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra

We stared at one another in quiet silence. The bandit woman didn't breathe, and neither did I. Outside, the wind was howling and the snow was falling down thickly. In that deafening sort of silence, the first move would mean a peaceful confrontation or another battle of attrition.

"You should leave before the others come back," the bandit said in the end. "I won't tattle you off, but if they come back, they won't be as nice as me." She dropped the goat carcass on the floor, and knelt near it, pulling a dagger out of her boot to start carving the beast off.

I slowly descended the stairs, skirting around her, "They probably won't come back," I said as I reached the door's entrance. This made the woman stop her work, and turn to look at me with a frown.

"I doubt you killed them, and I'm not seeing blood," she said in reply.

I shook my head. "They must have tried to ambush my siblings, and failed," I answered. "I'm...not much, I admit. But my older brother is a fighter in the Cyrodiil arena, and my sister is a battlemage," let's put it a bit thickly, shall we, "They passed through here and disposed of the bodies. They were headed for Bleak Falls Barrow, and they can't have missed one another."

"Or perhaps they captured your siblings, killed them, and then went up to the Barrows to share the loot with the others," the woman answered.

"It may be that," I acquiesced, "But I'm sure of Dragnor's skills. I'll be going. Have a nice day."

"You...too?" the woman mouthed out as I walked back out into the billowing winds, trying to keep myself steady as the leather boots crunched against the fresh snow.

My teeth chattered from the wind as I kept trudging upwards, the path sometimes interrupted in its splendid candor by the flapping of burly colored pieces of cloth that were kept still by small stone burrows. It was the way to keep one's direction, and as the snowstorm began to die down, my eyes were nearly blinded by the candor of the snow hit by the sun's rays, and by the massive Barrows that stood tall and proud atop the mountain.

There were no bandits there either. The large stone steps would have been deadly to cover while being pelted by arrows, and perhaps that was the point of using this sort of place as a base of operation. The final steps saw me glance at the thick doors of the temple, pulled wide open to allow one entrance. Opening them like that wasn't something I saw Dragnor doing, but still they were open, and the insides of the large entrance were covered in snow. It was due in no small part to the large holes on the ceiling, but the open doors had cooperated too.

The fire where the two bandits would normally be chatting was empty, and the fire had been snuffed out. The corpses of giant rats littered the hallway not just with their presence, but also with their droppings. I wasn't going to skin any rat. I wasn't going to eat any rat meat. The spit-roasted skeever on the fire was covered in a light sheen of ice, and the chest by the side of the bedrolls and the fire looked inviting, and also awfully locked.

I swallowed, and then began to look under the bedrolls' flat pillows, gingerly seeking out a key that perhaps was held on the person of a bandit whose corpse was now missing. Still, how did Dragnor and Rae deal with the corpses? They weren't here either. My eyes went to the locked chest, and then to my mace.

Well, this wasn't the game.

The mace struck and with a sharp crack broke through the wooden top of the chest, a second and third blow sending splinters to fly everywhere. The ridges of the mace were used to pry the hole wider, and as I put my weight on the edge of the mace, I used it as a lever making Archimedes proud of me. "Who needs lockpicks, uh," I mused with a dry chuckle as I glanced inside the chest, my fingers gingerly touching and pulling out the gold coins hidden within. They also wrapped around some warm fur of sorts, and as I pulled that out, it revealed itself to be a cloak of sorts.

Well, more than one, but I pulled out one at the time. What use is a chest if not to keep stuff you don't need at the moment stashed away and safe? Also, now that I took in the rest of the wide entrance, I could see a few more bedrolls left right and left, a couple of chests near them too.

No potions though, because potions weren't the kind of stuff these bandits had, or if they did have them, then Dragnor and Rae must have taken them first. There was blood on the ground though, so a fight had definitely happened. I descended the uneven staircase that had been covered in cobwebs, but which now stood broken on the ground. Light came through from the bottom of the stairs, large braziers lit and burning. The ceremonial urns that normally stood on the large stone tables were either shattered, or taken.

This looked like the Barrows, and yet at the same time had a certain difference to it. There were more doors, broken and shattered, more hallways, empty and littered with remains of rats and it was bigger, and yet not just bigger, but also...different. It had things that made sense for it to have, like an empty room for the servants to stash their brooms and spare clothes, a broken pedestal on which a brazier would have normally been lit, and it lacked in the roots of the trees, which made sense when it came to a Draugr place dug deep below the ground near a forest, but made none atop a mountain that couldn't have trees growing on it.

The corridor I followed was the only one whose braziers had been lit, and so it was clear it was the one the bandits had been using to rob the tomb. The lack of enemies did nothing for my frayed nerves, but at least it made it easier to reach deeper into the tomb. The puzzle involving the poisoned arrows had been solved, and the metal gate stood open. This was easy, and yet unnerving. Beyond the metal gate, the Soul Gem that rested in a neat container was still there, and as my fingers hastily moved to grab it and examine it, I exhaled loudly before furrowing.

This didn't make any sense.

Dragnor might not have cared, but Rae should have. No, even Dragnor would have cared. Enchanting a weapon was an important aspect of being a fighter, so...why would he leave it be? My heart soared into my throat as I pushed aside the various linens and crates that adorned the nearby tables, carefully prying open the one that most resembled the game's chest, as if expecting it to hold on some similarities to the events that had happened before.

More Soul Gems filtered out from its confines, old ceremonial daggers and vials of murky-colored potions all gloriously stood within.

The chest wasn't empty.

The bandits weren't there.

The crackling of ancient bones and old muscles made me snap in the direction of the spiraling staircase, just in time for glowing blue eyes to stare at me from it, the tall and lanky body of the dead Draugr coming further into view as it broke into a run that had my heart freeze, and my being sprint for the gate, the breath of death and cold frost right behind me even as I pulled the lever on the other side of the gate, only to scream as the Draugr had already cleared the gate before it fell down with a close.

I jumped back, avoiding a swing from an old and crooked sword as I hastily scrambled for my shield, jumping back once more as another swing came where I had stood but a second before.

I had the shield, and so I unclasped my mace next as I began to breathe in deeply, trying to calm down as the Draugr in turn did the same, clutching his blade with both hands as he began to circle around me. The sword had a longer range than the mace, but I had a shield. This meant little to nothing, because the only fighting I had done had been with someone else to take the heat off me, and when it hadn't, I had simply been a glorified pincushion.

This type of foe though would not tire. It couldn't be reasoned with, and it most certainly wouldn't let me leave unharmed.

"Aav Dilon!" it snarled as it rushed forward, my body buckling for impact as I hoisted the shield in front of me and then withstood the assault, my feet slipping on the cold uneven floor while I whipped my own mace from the side, the ridges of it carving gashes in the dead skin, even as the handle of the blade impacted against the top of my heat, my sturdy helmet dulling the blow.

I saw my vision blur and backed away, lowering my head and my body as I pushed back, "Stendarr!" I screamed, "Talos! Kynareth!" I planted my feet and huffed, pushing the shield to the side and the Draugr with it, before roaring as I slammed the mace against the monster's side, the blow breaking a few of its dead ribs and making it fumble backwards. I pushed forward, lifting my mace and then whipping it down with a scream to smash through the monster's broken breast armor. It shattered as the Draugr fell back again, and my next blow came from me swinging in an upward matter, which resulted in the enemy easily slipping through and slamming his blade against my uncovered arm.

I screamed in pain as I felt the blade dig deep into the muscle and the bone, the fingers letting go of my mace as I pried my limb off the weapon, gasping as I stumbled back, holding my shield in front of me as tears blurred my vision, the Draugr all too excited by the blood to stop, and pouncing against my shield as if he were a battering ram.

"Akatosh," I gritted out, "Talos, anyone!"

I felt my head thrum as I closed my eyes shut, and then pushed forward with yet one more scream, forcing the Draugr to hold on as I dragged him against the nearby wall, his back impacting with strength as I roared, pushing my shield back only to slam it again and again against its battered chest. The Draugr's eyes shone as it screamed in the tongue of the dragons words that I couldn't understand, because I wasn't a living translation dictionary, but that I didn't care to understand.

"Sovngarde awaits you!" I snarled, "So fucking die already!" one more shield bash broke through, and his rib cage caved in, literally shattering into pieces as the eyes stopped shining, whatever energies holding the creature on this world no more. I gasped and then began to cry, my shoulders trembling as my right arm was a mixture of warm and cold, painful and yet limp, no, more of a spread-out pain that yet was also with an origin, and whatever movement I did, it still hurt.

I bent down on the floor, crying out in pain as I had no choice but to pull my backpack off my back by letting it circle around my wounded arm, and then I grabbed for the ragged clothes, which were dirty and without a doubt would lead to an infection, but an infection was a way better result than dying of a loss of blood, wasn't it?

And there were pieces of linen that I hadn't even cared to check for.

Also, atop the stairs, wasn't there always a health potion? There were...not that many steps on the stair in this room. I left the backpack down as I began to walk towards the stair leading up to the middle of the ceiling, where a few braziers and the statues depicting the correct code to insert had apparently been left untouched, even though one had fallen. It made no sense to me why anyone would leave them there, since it was too silly to be true. Oh look, let's trap the gate and then put the answer for the gate right in plain sight of everyone coming in. That kind of defeats the point of having a cipher made.

The large shelf hadn't a health potion. There were linens, dusty and eaten by flies, but not a single potion. I fell down against it, grabbing hold of the linens to roll them around my wounded arm and then hissed. What kind of armor doesn't protect the arms of a man? What kind of genius thought that this would be the perfect defense against blades? The kind of person who thought that scouts shouldn't probably take the front line in battle, of course.

"If I rest..." I mumbled, "The wound will magically close and I'll get back in one piece."

I chuckled. That wasn't going to happen.

"Healing would be nice to know right now," I sighed. "Hey, Tiber Septim," I muttered, "Does it ever get lonely, being a god because you mantled another? People not knowing you for who you really are...I'm not really this Umbra guy, am I? Or am I, and I forgot? Was I reborn in this world? What did you want me to do? Set that bandit straight? Why? What is her purpose?" I took a deep breath. "God helps only those who help themselves," I slowly stumbled back up, sweat pooling down the back of my neck. "Those murky potions might still be good for something."

I stumbled back down the stairs, gritting my teeth as I pulled the lever to open the gate, taking a few steps forward only feel the ground shift beneath my feet, or more likely my own legs coming less due to a lack of strength.

If my siblings had come through here though, then the Draugr had captured them. I couldn't do anything to save them, but at least doing something was better than doing nothing. "I don't have a horse," I hissed as I took a deep breath, closing my eyes as I got back up on my knees first, "and I don't have a shiny lightsaber," I took a few more steps forward, "But I'm not going to die here, in this dungeon. Even if I have to make a deal...no," I bit my tongue, "No deals. No deals with anyone. My soul is mine."

I reached the table, and the still open chest with the murky potions within. They weren't green, blue or red. They were simply...there.

I looked at my arm, the blood already seeping through the linen to the point where I was sure I hadn't bled to death only because the cut wasn't as deep as I thought it was. The Draugr didn't even have strong muscles. He was probably a first level creature, and he hadn't even sliced. He had hit, the skin had given away and the strength of the impact had made it feel as if I had been cut all the way to the bone. The shock had done the rest.

There was no need to sip a strange and murky potion that had no label on it.

No, seriously, there was no reason at all to do that. What if it was poison?

"Just a drop," I muttered. I could taste-test it. A drop wouldn't be dangerous, would it?

If I felt better after a drop, then I could drink it all down even if it had the consistency of sludge. And if it wasn't going to make me feel better, then it wasn't going to change the fact that if I wanted aid, I had to go back down the whole mountain and get it from the village of Riverwood.

"You look like shit," four words reached my ears as I glanced up, coming face to face with the bandit woman who had apparently decided to follow me. Either that, or she was a very vivid hallucination. "What happened?" she asked next, crouching by my side.

"Draugr," I croaked out, "I got him...but he got me," I smiled. "My siblings...I don't know if they were captured or...or not, but..." I winced, "This hurts."

"Typical of an Imperial to cry for a nick," the bandit snorted. "Trying to kill yourself by drinking spoiled potions is a thing where you come from?" she grabbed the potion vial from my hand and scrunched her nose in disgust, before throwing it away. "Open your mouth and drink this instead," she said as she uncorked some form of pale blue bottle, big enough that it could easily hold two liters into it.

I didn't need magicka, I needed health. Was that not obvious? "I—" didn't get a word in, because the contents sloshed down my throat as I coughed, wheezing as the strong and pungent taste of alcohol mixed with a strange slightly mint-like flavor that had my nose blast open as if I only then learned how to breathe. It was like drinking a mixture of an energy drink and a strangely beneficial herbal remedy all in one, and by the time she calmly pulled it away from my mouth, I could feel the tip of my right hand's fingers again.

"Blue mountain flour and wheat, left to ferment together in pure spirit," the bandit said. "Has a bit of a kicker, but should get you on your feet in a matter of minutes."

"I think I can breathe fire now," I wheezed out as I felt my eyes widen to near comical degrees. "Thank you," I said as I slowly got back on my feet, "Let's talk more away from here though," I continued as I briskly walked back past the gate, and once the woman followed me, I closed it behind us. "There. Should keep the Draugr at bay if any come looking for us," I muttered as I swiftly grabbed my backpack to sling it back on my shoulders, before grabbing my mace to clasp it back at my belt, taking a seat in the end atop the stairs to catch my breath.

"You look like your ass is on fire," the bandit said most aptly.

"It kind of is," I answered, passing a hand through my hair. "But...now that I think about it," I looked up at her, "My name is Umbra. What's yours?"

The woman shrugged. "I go by the name of Berry."

"Berry?" I raised both of my eyebrows.

"Was found under a bush of berries," she replied, "Why, do names need to have meaning?"

I shook my head. "No, just...how long have you been in the business of banditry?"

"A year more or less," Berry replied, "Used to live in a nice farm near Windhelm, but then the war started and the Empire decided to attack my farm. They killed everyone but me, so I escaped and swore revenge."

"Could have gone with the Stormcloaks," I pointed out. "Why didn't you?"

Berry clicked her tongue against her teeth, crossing her arms in front of her chest. "They didn't want a kid with them."

I blinked. "A kid?"

"Yeah," she said. "A kid."

I stared.

She quietly pushed a lock of her blond hair behind her ear. "I've seen fifteen turns of the seasons already, but it wasn't enough for the Stormcloaks, so I had no choice but to either beg for food, head to an orphanage, or get food another way. A couple of bandits picked me up, and so here I am in the middle of a forsaken temple speaking to the most fake of Imperial Soldiers. Who the hell prays to Talos in the middle of a fight?"

I opened my mouth to speak, only to abruptly narrow my eyes at her, "Wait a moment. You were watching?"

"Course I was," she said, "And I had half the mind to leave too. Made it halfway back up when I reckoned you didn't look like you knew what you were doing, and you did...save my life. I think we're even now, so I'll be going further down and try to save the rest of my band from the dead Nords of old. If I hadn't seen a Draugr myself, I doubt I'd believe you."

I exhaled quite loudly, shaking my head as I looked up at the ceiling of this forsaken crypt. "Listen here, Tiber," I pointed a finger up at the ceiling, "I demand divine protection if you are going to make me do what I think you want me to do."

Berry inclined her head to the side, a puzzled look on her face. "What are you doing? Did the Draugr hit your head harder than what it looked like?"

"Yes," I said. "Yes it did, which is why I'm coming too."

Berry snorted, and shook her head. "I can handle myself just fine."

"Yes, but if the Draugr captured my siblings, I've got to rescue them. If they haven't, then I still have to see this through because otherwise, well, I don't know but I also don't want to find out what a God can do to you if you disobey his not-so-subtle attempts at putting you on the right track, so live with it, Berry." I stood up, and deeply regretted my next words, but it wasn't like I had anything better to say. "I am sworn to carry your burdens."

Berry's eyes widened in disbelief. "Look, we're even," she said, "You don't need to go all valiant knight-protector. If you want to come with, then sure, I'll gladly use you as a meat shield, but that's all. Let's not put anything more between us. We ain't friends."

"Nonsense," I drawled. "We are friends. I say so, and my word on the matter is law."

Berry shook her head, "Suit yourself. If I leave you to die in a trap, then just curse your foolishness."

"Sure," I said, "but don't you worry. I'm really tough to kill."

She chuckled, "Your tear-stricken face told me otherwise, crybaby."

I bristled, and then quite firmly pulled the lever back, opening the gate once more. Grabbing on to the mace, I hoisted my shield and began to walk towards the rickety, creaking and half-broken spiraling wooden stairway down.

"Stendarr protect me, and Kynareth be with me. Talos strengthen my sword-arm, and may Akatosh widen his wings to shield me," I muttered as I began to descend the stairs. I felt Berry's steps follow lightly behind me, and while this time I felt fear, my heart did not beat as much as before.

Misfortune is easier to bear, when there are two set of shoulders holding it aloft.

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Eight - Bleak Falls Barrow - 18th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra

The wooden staircase finished into the room where large cobwebs would have normally occupied most of the walls and ceilings, and instead were now lacking in those. The braziers inside the room were lit and burning, the table was set with moth-eaten linen as if to prepare a feast, and the two Draugrs that occupied the room were unarmed, and largely busy with their tasks.

I rushed forward, swinging my mace as quickly as possible against the one giving me his back, smashing his head against the table with a sickening crunch. The second received an arrow swiftly nocked and loosened onto his bare chest, making him jerk back, but without much of a noticeable effect, since the creature didn't seem capable of bleeding. I slammed my mace into his midriff, forcing him down before lifting my mace back up to slam him on the ground with the second blow.

They were zombies. Smashing their heads was a good way of dealing with them, while arrows didn't seem to do much more than hold them back.

"These two weren't armed," Berry whispered as she neared, "I guess it's typical of the Imperials to excel in taking down unarmed foes."

I exhaled, "Perhaps so," I acquiesced. "Though I wonder what that makes you if I managed to beat you."

"I was annoyed by your incessant chattering," Berry retorted, "But we can have a rematch once we leave this place, it's giving me the chills."

The nearby shelf was empty of anything of worth, and the stairs that led down were lacking in webs too. The Draugr were efficient cleaners, I would give them that much, and as the corridor opened up to the left into a wide open hallway, they were also quite hefty in numbers.

I held back my voice as I backpedaled behind the corner, nearly hitting onto Berry whose eyes widened at my sudden retreat. With my back against the wall, she furrowed her brows and then peeked past, before hastily retreating. "There are dozens of them," she mouthed.

I nodded, glancing once more into the wide hallway that ended into a circular and large room. Weaponless Draugr were cleaning the walls with dirty pieces of linen, and even though something had nothing to use but the palms of their hands, they still religiously cleaned those spots without a second thought. Some were cleaning the floors, and in the large room I could swear there was some chanting going on.

Between the giant spider and a dozen of Draugr, I admittedly didn't know which was the best option. "In times like this," I muttered, "The better part of valor is using our brains."

Berry looked at me as if I had an answer to our current conundrum. "They didn't check for noises," I whispered, "I guess being undead and all dulled their senses," I gestured at her to take a few steps back along the corridor, and I did the same before nearing my mace to the side of the wall. "Ready?" I whispered.

"No!" Berry hissed out, "That's foolish!" she looked around, before coming to a halt by the side of a large brazier, "Let's go get all the linen we can find instead," she continued. "I have a better idea." She patted her pure spirit potion, and I grinned.

I understood. I understood, and I approved. The linens we gathered from the previous rooms and shelves formed a neat bundle, which she wet with her alcoholic potion before plastering the ground around the corner with the strips of it. Meanwhile, I kept watch on the Draugr. They didn't move. It was like they didn't care that they were polishing the same stone for hours, because to them, hours meant nothing.

"Trap set," Berry murmured as I glanced down to witness the results. A sticky field of wet, inflammable linens stood ready to burn. "Be the bait now," she continued as she neared a brazier by the stairs, bringing one of her arrows to start burning over it.

I slammed my mace against the side of the wall, "Stendarr protects!" I roared as the Draugr that had been meticulously polishing the walls suddenly looked up to gaze at me, "Dir Volaan!" one of them yelled, and as they began to rush forward like a wave of undead might, I found my feet most valiantly jumping in the middle of the death field, and then with a second jump clear it as behind me the horde rushed ahead. As their feet were tangled in the oily substance, the burning arrow let loose from Berry's bow impacted and ignited with blinding speed the entire thing, crafting an inferno that burned brighter than what I believed could be possible.

The patch of fire didn't, however, stop the dead from still rushing forward even as the flames devoured their legs, making some lose their balances and fall down on the ground, where the flames hungrily ate at their dried skin. They had the flammability of parchment after all, and so they burned, they burned, and yet some moved past the wall of fire.

I slammed my mace against the face of a burning Draugr, sending him to tumble back as my shield hastily blocked the claws of a second one, the third receiving the pommel of my mace in the side of the face from my right. I jumped back, the claws and fingers doing their hardest to hold me down and yet failing, because they had no feet to hold on to, and so they tumbled and fell, my mace coming in a wide swing to open a path in front of me.

My breathing was short, and my arms bruised and covered in angry red lines by the time the last of the Draugr fell and stopped moving, which was different from simply falling down because even when down, they'd still try to near to chew on my boots. Thankfully the leather kept the chewing to a mere bother rather than an actual threat for my calves, but seriously, these things weren't willing to surrender until a mace met the back of their heads. It took dedication.

"We make a good team, don't we?" I huffed out as I wiped my forehead with my leather bracer.

"In murdering unarmed corpses? Sure we do, crybaby, sure we do," Berry replied as she wrinkled her nose in disgust, glancing at the burning corpses. The flames died off enough to let us through a couple of minutes later, enough to catch my breath and pass through with a sure gait. This was the biggest hurdle, wasn't it? There wasn't going to be anything else as dangerous. Sure, there was no Arvel the Swift at the end of the large hall, but that was mainly because there were no cobwebs, and the giant spider's carcass was nowhere to be found.

The large hall had more than one corridor, and while Berry went towards one that I knew nothing of, I headed to the one that more resembled the game's own. I peeked around the corner, before hissing towards Berry to catch her attention. She gestured at me in turn, pointing at the corridor I had no knowledge of, while I shook my head and pointed at the one I was by the side of.

"This way there are voices!" she mouthed.

"Draugr!" I quipped back, "This way's safe."

She huffed, and then quickly moved towards me. "If they come back and close us off, we're not going to make it out in one piece."

"There's another exit to this place," I retorted. "There's always another exit to a Draugr temple, one that either leads back to the entrance or that leads outside. It's a safety tunnel to allow for the priests to escape while letting the invaders fight their way into the center of the complex, before coming down on them on both sides in the middle and killing them off," I swallowed, "Also, this leads deeper into the complex. If there are any intruders, they'll have been brought in front of the dragon priest."

"If you say so," Berry muttered, "Did you learn that in a fancy imperial academy?"

"No," I replied. "I...I just know. It's complicated. When we find my siblings, if you're still curious, you can ask them."

I began to trudge along the corridor, my eyes adjusting to the light as the braziers lit the next room as if it were midday, candles spread out across uneven stone tables upon which I saw embalming tools, linens and ceremonial urns...as well as the bandits' missing corpses. I turned my sight sharply away from the gory scene, while Berry instead neared with a quick step to her pace. "No, no, no," she cried out. "Harknir, Bjorn—" she moved her fingers towards the shoulders of a tough looking man, "Soling," the dunmer nearby received the same treatment, "Arvel," she turned to look at me, but I wasn't looking at her directly. I was concerned with the doors on the other side of the room, where armored Draugrs had arrived attracted by the noise.

They growled as their eyes shone with the bright blue light typical of their kind. "Bolog Aaz, Mal Lir!" the first of them gnarled, a mighty war ax in both of his hands. The second had a sword, but no shield.

"Fus! Ro! Dah!" I howled back right at them. That actually worked. It didn't work in the sense that I achieved the Thu'um, but it worked in the sense that the Draugr recognized those words, and knew what they meant, and so the two paused and braced themselves for impact, as if expecting an attack that didn't come. I took that as the cue to charge forward and slam my mace home into the knee on the warhammer wielding Draugr, sending the bone to shatter from impact and the creature to lose its balance. There hadn't been fear at the Thu'um, but simple preparation to withstand an attack.

So when that attack hadn't come, I had caught the first one by surprise. I spun as I screamed, the mace spinning as it hit the side of the face of the falling Draugr, whose head neatly sailed off in an arc.

"The Emperor protects!" I roared, "Tiber Septim, witness me!" the still standing Draugr rushed forward, but this time, while I wasn't ready for him, Berry most certainly was. An arrow hit him in the shoulder, and as he lost the balance for his charge, I bent my knees and shoved my shoulder and shield arm forward to bash the weapon arm. The blade sparked against the shield as I pushed it away, my mace arm coming downwards from behind my head to strike at the open chest, slamming home and shattering the breastplate as the Draugr fell on his back, my arm trembling from the momentum of the blow. I slammed my mace down on the Draugr's head again, smashing it to a pulp as I shakily gasped for air.

Berry was short on her breath too, her arms trembling only slightly before she quickly recovered, shaking her head. "Well," she said bitterly, "I'm done with this place."

"Those were all of your friends?" I asked as I tried to calm my erratically beating heart, my back against the wall as I kept looking at the corridors still ahead of us, the wideness and the depths of it making me shiver as I recalled that what came next were the catacombs, and those would have way more Draugrs than what the game definitely had showed. Also, there would be traps, deadly traps.

"I didn't have friends, only colleagues," Berry said. "A good bandit is a living bandit. If a bandit's dead, then he wasn't a good bandit," she said, as if quoting someone. "Don't trust your fellow as far as you can knife him, sleep with an eye open...and if you're bleeding to death and slowing the rest down, you'll be left behind."

"Kind of sad," I answered.

"It's life out here," Berry said, "And if you're bleeding, you'll attract wolves if you're lucky, or snow cats if you aren't. If a bear's taken offense and is mauling you...you're dead meat," she huffed, "That's life out here in the Nord. That's us, it's something you Imperials can't understand."

"Yeah, it's not like we faced a Daedric invasion," I replied sarcastically, "Imperials have survived, and conquered. Though the Empire has fallen on hard times, it can still rise again, and when it does, it shall have no rivals for another thousand years," I sighed, "Wasn't Tiber Septim known as Ysmir too? The dragon of the North? The Empire is a birth of the Nord, so I don't understand why you'd have to be so against being ruled by it."

"It's not the Empire the problem, it's the elves. The elves and their hatred of Talos, Skyrim's son," Berry snapped angrily. "All because of that...I lost everything!"

"And the best bet to face them off would be to rebuild faster than the Elves, to stand more united, stronger together, and then push the Thalmor back where they belong," I quipped, "But instead of doing that, instead of standing united in the time of need, brother turned against brother, family were split and friends separated, all because for the country renowned for its voice, rather than talk the Nords chose to pick up the sword," I exhaled. "We can speak about politics later though," I swallowed. "I haven't found my siblings yet, so maybe they were dragged deeper into the Barrows."

"Good luck with that," Berry said as she turned to leave, "Wind guide you, but I won't be risking my life for nothing."

"Kynareth be with you," I answered in turn to her retreating back, swallowing grimly. The chances of finding both Dragnor and Rae alive were now slim to none, but as I slowly began to walk my way through the long and empty corridor that lead further deep into the Barrows, I really didn't see another option. My stomach growled from hunger, but I bit my lips and soldiered on. I could deal with hunger once I was out of this situation.

I also needed to take a leak, but there was no way I was going to do that while descending into the barrows of a Gods-Forsaken temple.

"Stendarr, Kynareth, Akatosh, Talos and whoever else there is," I whispered, "Though I am definitely an unworthy son, I beg your aid in my hour of need. Let the dead rest and the passage be swift and sure," I slowly crept forth, the long holes dug in the stone walls that would have held the Draugrs were empty, not a single one of them holding within an enemy. Wherever they had gone, whatever they were doing, I just didn't want for them to find me.

I crouched behind a stone column, peeking past to the large hall that contained countless Draugrs. These ones weren't asleep, but they were busy praying. The weaponless Draugr bent low and raised their voices to the sleeping Draugrs that instead had armor or blades, the servants willingly waking up their masters rather than letting them sleep forever. I stared as the countless slaves sang, until a few began to fall down unconscious, perhaps truly dead. In that moment, the armed Draugr awoke and slowly moved out from his sleeping spot.

This made an awful amount of sense. The weaker Draugrs all over Skyrim awoke first, and then sacrificed themselves to awaken the stronger ones. If this kept up then, of course, the Death Lords would be the final step. How far deeper, and how more tortuous was the path down? How many halls contained Draugrs of unquestionable might still sleeping off in wait for the return of their slaves to awaken them?

It didn't matter, because past the assembly I saw what I needed. The threatening looking grate meant to be a trap was there, but while I couldn't see the stone that activated it, I was relatively sure that it was found in the middle of the path, and not on the sides of it. On the other side, there was a side passage just by the right of it that I could squeeze through. I kept low as I took a deep breath, and then rushed silently past the Draugr the moment I saw the armed one bellow as he directed his servants to another resting Draugr.

I got past it, thankfully into rooms where no Draugr had yet to be awakened.

Unfortunately, my greatest enemy had yet to materialize itself.

The trap of the swinging blades.

This wasn't going to be easy, was it?

 

[shadenight123]

Chapter Nine - Bleak Falls Barrow - 18th of Last Seed 4E 201 - Umbra

Crawling beneath the trap proved easier than I thought, especially because the trap actually stopped swinging way higher than the floor itself. I could have even gone on all fours, but I didn't want to push my luck any further than it was already being pushed, and thus I crawled, my arms pulling the rest of my body along as I kept my head low and reached the other side with relative ease.

I didn't deactivate it, letting it swing behind me to block the Draugrs that might have decided to come look for me. Though it made no sense for there to not be another passage, or a button to turn off the trap on the other side, I still went with the firm belief that whoever built this place didn't know what he was doing. Honestly, I wasn't going to start teaching Traps One-Oh-One to any Draugr architect anytime soon, and I thanked the Gods for whatever brilliance the Dragon Priests of the past had in choosing their architects.

My mace and shield at the ready, I slowly descended the steps well-lit by burning braziers. The end of the stairs lead into the alcoves where armed Draugrs rested by the score, some of them part of the game's enemies when one drew near enough. I stared into the lifeless eyes of dozens of Draugrs all lined up, rather than just one or two, and proceeded to slam my mace against the skull of the first in line.

The impact shattered the face, bent the helmet, and as my arm pushed itself back, a Draugr wielding a battle-ax pushed its body out from the alcove, stumbling on his feet only for my mace to slam into the back of his head. Was this dishonorable? Yes. Was this absolutely necessary? Yes again.

I returned to the Draugrs standing dead in line, and smashed their faces until their bodies slumped down too, my breathing uneven as I wiped with the back of my hand the sweat off my forehead. A cold chill crept into my bones as I turned my gaze to a figure wielding a war ax in one hand and chilling frost in its other. So it had come in the end, something stronger than the others.

I swallowed my nervousness as I turned, shield hoisted. "The Emperor protects!" I snarled, rushing forward only to shut my eyes sharply as I raised my shield to protect my face, the cold blast impacting against it and sending me to slide back, my arm feeling as if somebody had doused it in cold water, in cold arctic water. I gritted my teeth and cried as I fell down on my knee, holding the shield up even as the icy barrage did not seem to end. The cold shifted from my arm to my shoulder, lurking its way up to my chest. I swallowed, and then I pushed forth even with my arm chilled to the very bone.

As I opened up to slam my mace downwards, the Draugr's ax came cruising for my chest, impacting against the leather and cracking past it. My eyes shut in pain as I grunted, letting my mace finish its strike since it couldn't be stopped. The Draugr's head caved slightly, the helmet it wore falling off as it tumbled slightly down. The undead pulled its ax away, but I gripped my mace even if my chest felt like agony had lurked over it, and I howled as I slammed it back down again, caving in the Draugr's face as I felt the snaps of ligaments I did not even know I possessed break.

I tumbled back as the Draugr instead fell down with a sick thud. My body trembled as I swallowed what little saliva I had left.

Well, as it turned out, I no longer needed to find a place to relieve myself.

Disgusting as it was, I ignored it and trudged forward, my lips parting in a grimace of pain. The ax had hit the leather armor, and it had dented it. The blunt blade hadn't cut anything, and the blow itself had been strong, strong enough to bruise, but definitely not strong enough to crack my chest in pieces. This was simply pain. This wasn't something that required more than a few nights of rest to fix.

Pain was something I could power through. Pain was transitory in nature. Everything that hurt would soon pass, and be a thing of the past. There are those who think it's easy, and those who think it's not easy, but in the end, all that matters is the will to take that one step forward.

"Determination is the warm plate of pasta that the mice can eat," I whispered as I reached for the archway that would lead in the room with the waterfall and the tomb where a Draugr rested, ready to pop out and hurt me again. Yet, this time, I would be smarted than it. I winced as I broke into a jog through the room with the waterfall, my eyes finding the chain set on the wall and yanking it down with strength even as behind me, the noise of a tomb being broken echoed.

The grate slid as if recently oiled up, and I passed through it only to pull down the chain once more, closing the gate sharply behind me much to the chagrin of the Draugr, who snarled as its greatsword struck the metal gate without any result.

I smirked, and laughed, and then shook my head as I proceeded to step away from the gate, and through a tunnel that had been dug, rather than built, and that perhaps was part of a future excavation of the great temple and that hadn't been finished in time. I took a grand total of five steps before the Draugr pulled the chain and the gate rattled open.

Who but a Draugr would oil a gate used by Draugrs? And if such was the case, then who but the Draugr in the room would know how to operate it?

"Volaan!" the Draugr snarled.

This was clearly not my day.

I broke into a typical ass-on-fire dash through the tunnel dug by countless miners whose skeletons now adorned the sides, by breathing short and my vision a blur as behind me the Draugr instead seemed uncaring of it all, rushing behind me with the Greatsword held in both hands and already cocked back standing ready to swing it down. I could see the light at the end of the tunnel, but that light was nothing short than a drop down a few floors all the way to greet the hard, rocky ground.

I saw the edge, and began to slow down and turn, shield raised in front of me. Behind me was a deadly fall, and in front of me a deadly foe. His eyes burned with anger at my sheer presence as he rushed closer and closer, until I cried out the three words that I knew by heart.

"The Emperor protects!" I screamed as I abruptly counter-charged him, closing the gap before he could swing his own greatsword down, entering right past his optimal range and driving the pommel, rather than the head, of the mace straight through his eye-socket. The Draugr screamed as he impacted against me, and as we both fell in a tangle of limbs, his greatsword hit the ground as I twisted my body around his, driving once more the back of the mace against the undead's skull.

"The. Emperor. Protects!" I slammed the mace down, the Draugr's arms rising to protect its face only for it to be shattered, the next blow taking care of the undead's face, and letting the body go limp, and unresponsive.

I clutched my chest, my knees soaked in the cold water of the stream that rushed beneath us without a care in the world.

"For fuck's sake," I muttered as I pushed myself off, wobbling against the nearby cavern's wall and gasping loudly. "I'll be the most annoying of followers if I have to," I grumbled. "I wonder if I keep on calling them, will they eventually tire and answer me?" I closed my eyes. "Merciful Stendarr, proud Akatosh, wise Kynareth...wait, Kynareth's the one of air and storms, so...ferocious Kynareth? Does that sound better? Strong-Armed Talos has a nice ring to it, but what about the others? Who else is there that's about martial prowess?"

"Arkay probably," a voice reached my ears as I opened my eyes, coming face to face with Berry once more. She unashamedly sat down by my side, and her lips thinned. "He's the god in charge of keeping the dead...well, dead."

"You followed me?" I asked with a small smile on my face.

"Don't look so sickeningly relieved," Berry snapped. "There just wasn't a way out. Draugrs came out from other passages and I had no way of getting out alone. Between dying and following you, I chose the latter. A crybaby pant-pissing meat shield is better than nothing."

I sighed, "Maybe so," I exhaled loudly. "Maybe so." I looked at her, "Do you still have any of that pure spirit potion of yours?"

"Not much, and I'd rather keep it for emergencies," Berry said. "Also, if you want more of it, pay me first. Stuff like that doesn't grow on trees, does it?"

I hummed, "No, it grows from the soil I guess."

Berry opened her mouth to say something, and then shut it with an audible click. She moved a hand to the bag slung on her shoulder, and pulled out a small diary. "This was Arvel's diary. He wrote that there's a Hall of Memories further down, but one needs the Golden Claw to access it. He had us steal it from the merchant of Riverwood a few days ago, but there was no trace of it on his person."

"The Draugr must have reclaimed it to open the door," I said. "The claws...there are a lot of them, and each is a very specific key that is used to unlock access to where a Dragon Priest's final resting place is, or where a leader of the Draugr slumbers. To think a merchant was keeping it as if it were a simple bauble," I exhaled, loudly, and then winced.

"I don't get how you know a lot about the Draugrs, but are utterly inept in fighting them," Berry said.

"Knowledge is power, those who read a lot, know a lot," I replied with my most wise tone of voice. "Unfortunately, it doesn't translate to skills, or I'd be easily jumping my way past everything in here. Since my own strength fails me...I trust in the Nine."

"Trusting the gods won't get you anywhere," Berry snapped, "It doesn't matter how hard you pray or what you pray for, Skyrim isn't a place where prayers work. At least, they don't work for people like me."

I exhaled, "The fires of pain forge the strongest blades," I glanced at her. "When a hero is needed, do you think the Gods turn to the pampered princess high in a castle of silk, or to the street rat who knows what hunger and pain are? It is loved by the Gods, he who dies young...so he who suffers, isn't he simply a person the Gods acknowledge as strong?"

"That's the excuse the priests say to the dirty street rats when they don't have any food left to give them for the night," Berry hissed, "In the end, it's all the same shit."

"I have been told that my siblings and I lived in the sewers of Cyrodiil during our youth," I spoke in a small whisper, "I do not know, because while we crossed the border, I was hit and lost my memories," I smiled. "The orphanage closed, and so ten children of various ages ended up sticking together in the sewers of a city. I don't know what we did to survive, and I do not know how we all became what we currently are...I don't even remember the others, not a face, not a word, not a voice," I swallowed. "But if there's one thing I know, it's that deep down, if they're my family, then I will protect them until my last dying breath." I looked firmly at her, "Which is why for what concerns me, you're now in the family too."

"What are you even saying?" Berry asked, "Were you hit in the head or something? You're speaking nonsense!"

"Just because you found people who didn't care in the past doesn't mean that everyone will not care," I continued firmly. "I might be a crying piss-soaked man...but I care," I closed my eyes. "And that's that. Live with it."

"Whatever," Berry snapped dryly. "Don't expect me to give you anymore of my magic potion unless you've got a sword sticking inside your guts."

"It's fine," I said. "I'll just rest for five minutes, and then we can...push on. We're nearly there."

"We are?" Berry asked, "How do you know?"

"The wind, Berry," I whispered as I heard it whistle from high above. "Listen to the wind."

I received a slap on my shoulder, which in turn made my chest ache.

I'd keep my eyes closed for just five minutes.

Five minutes would be enough for the stamina bar to replenish, wouldn't it?